Meanwhile EU member states are still behind EU targets to deploy 5G networks
ADVERTISEMENTEU Telecom operators can expect 6G standards for the next generation of mobile networks to be ready by 2029-2030, according to Jan Ellsberger, the new Director-General of European standardisation body ETSI.
Ellsberger, a former vice-president at Swedish telecom company Ericsson, told Euronews in an interview that the preparatory work on this will soon start. This comes as current European Commission targets for 5G deployment across the bloc remain unmet by the 27 EU member states.
“The industry is targeting a 2029-2030 time frame for the first release of 6G standards. That is the ambition,” he said, adding that 6G will not mean a big revolution, but rather, “a smooth evolution” of 5G.
ETSI – which has more than 950 member organisations, in 65 different countries and is tasked to set up globally applicable standards – is one of the organisations driving global telecommunication standardisation within 3GPPP, a global consortium which develops protocols for mobile telecommunications.
Once the 6G specifications are ready, they will be transposed into standards in all participating regions: the EU, US, India, Japan, China and South Korea.
In its State of the Digital Decade Report – published in June – the Commission said that its 2023 goal of reaching universal 5G coverage remains unmet.
An EU official warned in January that the persistent low roll-out of 5G deployment in Europe means that other technologies that are dependent on fast internet, such as artificial intelligence, will face delays in uptake.
Similarly, telecom lobby group ETNO warned in a January report that significant additional investment is still needed in roll-out before the EU targets to reach full 5G and full gigabit coverage by the end of this decade are achieved.
AI standards
Standardisation requests from the European Commission are only a small part of ETSI's work, some 70% of which come from the industry itself.
Ellsberger said that the focus in Brussels is expected to be on standardisation in the coming years. “All the adopted legislation now needs to be implemented, and that regulation needs standards. ETSI will provide its share of that work,” he said.
One of the examples coming out of the last Commission is the AI Act: the bloc’s stringent rules to regulate high-risk applications, which became applicable earlier this month.
The Standardisation Request in support of EU policy on AI was issued in May last year and given to CEN/CENELEC, the two other EU standardisation bodies, with ETSI mentioned as a contributor.
It can take a few months to several years before standards are developed, it depends on the topic, Ellsberger said.
“Standardisation is a voluntary request from the industry. The more commitment we have from the industry the faster it goes,” he said.
One of the other priorities for ETSI in its new mandate is to look at new technologies, including quantum, as well as developing initiatives around skills to train the next generation.
