'6G may usher in merged reality, bring in senses in digital communication'

Magnus Ewerbring says Standalone Architecture (SA) unleashes the full potential of 5G

While the industry standards for it are yet to be written, 6G may go beyond audio and visual senses in digital communication, Magnus Ewerbring, Chief Technology Officer, Asia-Pacific at Ericsson, tells Business Standard. In an interview, he tells Subhayan Chakraborty that the Standalone Architecture (SA) of 5G unleashes its full potential by allowing network slicing, which operators are embracing while Ericsson has begun to roll out updates for 5G Advanced. Edited excerpts.

Do we have a glimpse of what may be some of the major use cases for 6G?

I have a vision. Our research people are looking at the area of merged reality or internet of the senses. That is communication beyond the audiovisual context. Today, we have sound and video in communications. But what if in the future, you can reach out with your hand and feel the body temperature of the person you are talking to? Or if you're doing e-shopping, you can feel the texture of the fabric? Imagine looking up a vacation on the internet, and you get to smell the local food. Maybe something like these. We are doing research with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US on fabric that can feel pressure.

Last year at IMC, we showcased a sweater that can sense how you move. Meanwhile, we are studying whether there can be an IoT device in 6G that doesn't have a battery and charges itself through radio waves. We made a prototype. Maybe that can be done by 2035 commercially, but we don't know.

Telecom operators had been able to smoothly transition from 4G to 5G on Ericsson gear. Will that be the case for the shift to 6G as well?

We don't know that yet since the global standards haven't been written. But we know where we are aiming. In a few years, the industry will start to write the specifications, which will set the basis for how we build our products. For every new generation, we define the latest technology that can support the application of the new generation. That has always been the case, as it is more cost-efficient to use the latest technology.

A lot will depend on the outcome of the ongoing World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, right?

The upcoming World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) in 2027 will have a profound impact since the world will then hopefully decide on which frequency bands will be allocated for 6G. WRC 2023 had identified the bands to study, and now, leading up to WRC 2027, countries will study how applicable this would be.

In India, would it be necessary for telcos to move through 5G Advanced before deploying 6G?

Absolutely. Every year we have software updates. Starting from this year, the software releases support 5G Advanced technology. When customers release the software updates, they will have part of 5G Advanced in their systems. Next year, they get more. So, it's not an abrupt move, but instead, it builds up gradually. 5G Advanced enables RedCap, which is the 5G Internet of Things (IoT) technology. We have released it in our products after running trials with operators last year. In 4G, the most prevalent IoT mode is Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). RedCap can support higher speeds like 100 megabits per second. I think we will see it a lot in wearables.

You have said the Standalone Architecture (SA) of 5G would be the way forward in all markets. This is happening in India, but the cost implications are higher. Your comments.

With 5G SA, you unleash the real potential of 5G. It brings many benefits, one being 5G slicing, which allows services to be tailored for different users or different services to one or many users. Therefore, offerings can be differentiated. In one country, an operator introduced a slice for the National Police Force, allowing them to easily make a phone call in crowded environments. That enterprise is willing to pay for this service. This is a monetisation possibility for the industry.

Are you happy with the progress of network slicing as an enterprise solution in India?

We introduce very potent technologies. It takes time to build up the mass market. During that time, there is always a bit of frustration since everyone wants it to happen quicker. And that's okay because aspirations are good. We are in the middle of that process. Singapore's Singtel recently announced their latest offerings based on 5G slicing. Other operators are coming. It doesn't matter what country you look at; operators are thinking of how to bring it to the market.

Fixed wireless access has been picking up in India. Do you think the price of customer premises equipment (CPE) will fall further?

I'm sure it will drop. In our industry, it's a volume game. Over 1.4 billion smartphones are shipped every year. Smartphones are advanced products and sell at large volumes. When you reach that scale, you can push down the cost. India CPEs are ramping up, and India is helping the world by being a large market.