Behind the flash and glamour of last week's MWC there has been some question about the commercial health of the ecosystem. While drone taxis and other elements are unlikely to revolutionise the industry during the 2020s, there are some quieter revolutions under way which actually might.
The GSMA’s Chairman, Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, made a stir this morning as he announced that the GSMA would fundamentally change to become ‘a standards organisation’ in what he hailed as ‘the rebirth of the GSMA’. It won't and it's not, but there are interesting times afoot.
The NGMN's recent white paper on 6G requirements sets out an operator vision for the next generation. It offers a pragmatic concept of 6G and its implementation which suggests a very different way forward compared to previous generations, which might regrow the fortunes of the industry.
While internet governance sounds only marginally relevant, there are some interesting opportunities available for those who can step in with solutions. Players in both internet and telecoms have the scope do exactly that, influencing the future of lives online as well as building whole new areas of business.
in Day Two, speakers from around the world covered off a host of issues related to the commercial success of Beyond-5G services. The analysis explored what has gone wrong in the past and what needs to change for the coming generation of telecoms to be a commercial success – not just for the vendors but for the operators and their partner ecosystems.
The day underlined the point that the real evolution towards 6G may need to be in the industry’s mindsets, relationships and business models, with technology serving as an enabler rather than a driver.