Category: News Archive

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NGMN Press And Industry Briefing

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Together with Telecom TV, we are excited to invite you to the NGMN Press and Industry Briefing taking place virtually on June 24, 2021, from 3pm – 4pm CEST.

During the last year, NGMN went through a significant transformation – jointly driven by the new Chairman of the Board Arash Ashouriha from Deutsche Telekom, the new CEO Anita Doehler as well as by the entire NGMN Board.

Please join us to hear from NGMN Board Executives representing the regions Americas, Asia and Europe about the alliance’s new strategy. The key activities of the new NGMN Work Programme will be introduced, with the focus areas:

  • Operating Disaggregated Networks
  • Green Future Networks and
  • 6G

addressing existing and upcoming industry challenges.
Be the first to experience the exclusive unveiling of our new brand in line with our new strategy.

The confirmed NGMN Board member participants are:

  • Arash Ashouriha (SVP Group Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom and Chairman of the NGMN Board)
  • Carlos Fernandes (VP Group Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom)
  • Anita Döhler (CEO, NGMN Alliance)
  • Yuhong Huang (Deputy General Manager China Mobile Research Institute, China Mobile)
  • Luke Ibbetson (Head of Group R&D, Vodafone)
  • Michael S. Irizarry (EVP and CTO Engineering and Information Technology, UScellular)
  • Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon (SVP Orange Labs Networks, Orange)

The NGMN Press & Industry Briefing will be moderated by Guy Daniels of Telecom TV.

In addition, further Board Directors will join the audience together with top management representatives of NGMN industry and research partners as well as international analysts and press representatives.

If you missed the live show, you can watch the on demand recording from TelecomTV here.

For further information please download the NGMN Press & Industry Briefing presentation here.

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The Linux Foundation and NGMN Collaborate on End-to-End 5G and Beyond

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Frankfurt, Germany, May 10, 2021: The Linux Foundation and the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance (NGMN), today announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for formal collaboration regarding end-to-end 5G and beyond.

NGMN’s mission is to provide impactful industry guidance to achieve innovative and affordable mobile telecommunication services for the end user, placing a particular focus on Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Sustainability and Green Future Networks, as well as on 6G and the continuous support of 5G’s full implementation.
This mission is complementary to the efforts of the Linux Foundation’s LF Networking and LF Edge umbrella projects, as well as others like LF Energy operating within the telecom, IoT, and networking spaces.

Creating and providing open, scalable building blocks for operators and service providers is critical to the industry adoption of 5G and beyond. Therefore, the collaboration between NGMN and the Linux Foundation will focus on end-to-end 5G architecture and beyond 5G. Specific areas of alignment may include sustainability, network automation and network autonomy based on Artificial Intelligence, security, edge cloud, virtualization, disaggregation, cloud native, and service-based architecture, to name a few.

“We very much look forward to a mutually inspiring and beneficial collaboration with The Linux Foundation. Open Source is gaining increasing relevance for the strategic topics of our Work Programmes such as Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks and 6G. We are delighted to partner with The Linux Foundation to jointly drive our mission for the benefit of the global ecosystem”, said Anita Doehler, CEO, NGMN Alliance.

“We are thrilled to be aligning with such an innovative, industry-leading organization,” said Arpit Joshipura, General Manager, Networking, Edge and IoT, the Linux Foundation. “Integrating NGMN’s expertise across pivotal areas like Disaggregation, Green Future Networks, cloud native, automation, and early work on 6G into LF Networking’s 5G Super Blueprint initiative is a natural next step for the industry.”

The Linux Foundation’s vision of harmonizing open source software with open standards has been in effect for several years, including collaborations with ETSI, TMF, MEF, GSMA, the O-RAN Alliance, and more. NGMN also maintains longstanding co-operations with all of these organisations. The alignment between The Linux Foundation and NGMN represents the latest in a long-standing effort to integrate open source and open standards across the industry.

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NGMN Urges ICT Companies to Tackle Climate Change
ICT Companies should align investments with a 1.5°C trajectory in line with ITU L.1470

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Frankfurt, Germany, April 26, 2021: The Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance is set to align the mobile communication sector with its entire supply chain – from component manufacturers to service providers – to address sustainability challenges faced by the ICT sector. Its Green Future Networks project, launched in November 2020, is the first NGMN initiative to provide detailed guidance regarding the environmental impacts of the ICT sector’s network part.

NGMN urges all ICT companies to align investments with a 1.5°C trajectory in line with ITU L.1470. This includes roadmaps for the full ICT value chain i.e. for mobile and fixed networks, as well as for data centers, user devices and enterprise networks. In addition, NGMN will develop requirements and call for actions to support achieving the 1.5°C trajectory, thus helping the full ecosystem to better identify their options and priorities. All these levers will help to make the ICT sector more aligned with the principles of a circular economy. More than 20 NGMN companies including mobile network operators, vendors, service providers and research institutions already contribute with their efforts to a number of different and innovative topics such as critical raw materials usage, a method on circular economy scoring or the use of lean packaging.

“Orange has been pushing for network energy efficiency for years, and we are very proud of the outcome that 5G can deliver in achieving a more energy efficient design. We are very excited to be involved in the NGMN initiative. We are convinced that it will have a definite contribution to making future mobile networks more sustainable, reducing their environmental impact despite the expected growth in usage”, claims Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, Senior Vice President at Orange Labs Networks.

Prof. Mischa Dohler, Chair Professor at King’s College London, adds: “King’s College London actively supports the UN SDGs – through research, industrial collaboration and societal outreach. We are excited to be part of such an important initiative by NGMN. We are certain that this initiative will impact the telco industry for many years to come.”

Interested industry players are invited to join NGMN in this important initiative.

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6G to Consider Societal Requirements
First NGMN 6G White Paper Presents 6G Drivers and Vision

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Frankfurt, Germany: Today, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance publishes its first 6G White Paper focusing on the 6G Drivers and Vision. As a global organisation representing the entire value chain, NGMN is set to take the lead in providing impactful guidance for global 6G activities to respond to the needs of end users, societies, mobile network operators and the ecosystem as a whole.

In this White Paper, the NGMN Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) identify the key drivers for 6G and outline their vision for 6G and the future transition of networks enabling differentiated services with expanded market opportunities and novel experience. Furthermore, the paper outlines the key challenges to be considered in a journey towards 6G, and emphasizes the need for a healthy and unified global ecosystem and standards.

NGMN believes that the continuing evolution of the mobile industry, and the underlying technologies, must be guided by the imperative to safeguard the three fundamental needs facing the society at large, and the telecoms industry in specific, namely:

• Societal Goals: Future technologies should contribute further to the success of a number of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) such as: environmental sustainability, efficient delivery of health care, reduction in poverty and inequality, improvements in public safety and privacy, support for ageing populations, and managing expanding urbanization.
• Operational Necessities: There is a strong need to make the planning, deployment, operations, management, and performance of the mobile operators’ networks more efficient.
• Market Expectations: Customer requirements need to be satisfied by offering new services and capabilities, supported by evolving technologies in a cost-effective manner.

A differentiated technology evolution is required. Any new technological development should be assessed with respect to its differentiation from 5G, and any improvements should be benchmarked, including pragmatic deployment scenarios, with the law of diminishing returns in mind.

As operators are continuously engaging with end users, including vertical industries, they are in an excellent position to understand their future needs. To address the mentioned next generation drivers in a holistic way, it is also important to further engage with user groups representing societal needs.

The NGMN Board strongly recommends that the above described drivers are prioritised in the global research, design and development of the next generation of standards and technologies.
Anita Doehler, CEO NGMN, says: “6G is one of our key strategic topics. With our future vision of 6G and the related NGMN Work Programme, we are committed to setting the global footprint and providing impactful guidance to the industry in developing 6G. We enable a unique collaboration among the NGMN Partnership including operators, vendors and research organisations and external stakeholders. Going forward, the entire NGMN Alliance will work on use cases and end-to-end requirements. We invite interested industry players to join our endeavor for the benefit of the global ecosystem.”

NGMN has a track record in substantially impacting 4G and 5G development, and is best positioned to provide relevant and timely guidance to the whole ecosystem throughout the 6G development cycle.
The White Paper 6G Drivers and Vision is the first of a series of deliverables that NGMN will publish within the next years. NGMN will build upon the high-level guidance provided in this White Paper and engage further in greater details and specifics.

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NGMN Claims Pole Position in Disaggregation Operating Model, Green Networks and 6G

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Frankfurt, Germany: Today, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance announces its new strategy and claims pole position in addressing the key major Operator & Ecosystem challenges in the coming years.

As an operator driven organisation, NGMN is in a unique position to provide value, guidance and leadership to its members and the whole ecosystem in:

  • Mastering the route to Disaggregation
  • Sustainability / Green Future Networks
  • 6G

Anita Doehler, CEO NGMN, says: “Operators are facing challenges on their route to disaggregation, cloudification and softwarization. One burning topic in this area is the design and execution of effective new E2E operating models. Green Future Networks is another highly important topic the industry ecosystem needs to jointly approach. In addition, early work on 6G has started. Therefore, we have streamlined our Work Programme to focus on these three extremely relevant topics to deliver significant impact in 2021 and beyond. At the same time, we remain committed to further support 5G’s full implementation.”

Mastering the Route to Disaggregation

For mastering disaggregated, cloud- and software-based networks, Mobile Network Operators need to start preparing now for future-proof operating models that are built on the orchestration of powerful ecosystems of solution partners, openness and flexibility to integrate new partners and technologies, highly diverse set of skills and capabilities to drive value and efficiency. NGMN’s new Work Programme will thus focus on the end-to-end operating model, considering, amongst other, the following key aspects: processes, technology, tools and skill requirements. NGMN will provide blueprints as well as relevant guidance towards the industry players and lay out roles and opportunities provided by disaggregation. The initiative aims to shorten time to market and to provide support in the selection and deployment of efficient operating models by Mobile Network Operators.

Providing Impactful Guidance for Green Future Networks

The application of various techniques to improve network energy performance is one fundamental objective for Mobile Network Operators since the number of users, connected devices and general usage continue to grow. The ICT network consumes the most energy in the content delivery process and electricity represents our principal source of greenhouse gas emissions. An additional objective is waste reduction, amongst other enabled by the eco-design of products and equipment. To tackle such important topics, this well-established NGMN project focuses on four major aspects: end-to-end services footprint, eco design, network energy efficiency and on-board metering. Consolidating a common view amongst operators and collaborating with equipment vendors and other industry players enables NGMN to provide a significant industry contribution in achieving UN and GSMA sustainability goals. NGMN plans to release frequent impactful guidance on sustainability to the ecosystem.

 Driving Successful Implementation of 6G

Work focusing on beyond 5G has already started worldwide. The NGMN Alliance strongly believes that societal and operational requirements need to be considered in the development of a new generation. Operators are in a unique position to engage with end users, including vertical industries as well as user groups representing societal needs. The NGMN Alliance is determined to provide early and timely direction for global 6G activities. Its 6G Work Programme currently focuses on vision and drivers, including societal and operational aspects for 6G. This will be followed by use cases and end-to-end system requirements. Actively engaging with different stakeholders and facilitating multilateral cooperation with the wider ecosystem at the right time will support in developing a meaningful vision and drive a successful implementation of 6G in the future. NGMN plans to publish the first version of its “6G Vision & Drivers” White Paper around the end of Q1 of 2021.

Interested industry players are invited to join NGMN in these important initiatives.

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NGMN Alliance seeks the rapid development of Option 4 as complement to 5G Standalone

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Frankfurt, Germany: Today, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance releases its latest Operator Position Statement paper urging the development finalization of 5G architecture “Option 4” to support the full realisation of 5G. Its Option 4 recommendation will help many networks to bring new 5G-based services quickly and efficiently to market whilst also providing a future-proof evolution that maintains competitive user data rates for 5G users.

A migration to 5G Standalone is an important evolutionary step for 5G with the introduction of a new 5G core network and the transfer of the master radio interface technology from LTE to New Radio (NR) technology. To ensure the most cost and spectrum efficient use of the network which maximises the full 5G advantages, advanced 5G users should be able to connect in parallel via both NR and existing LTE technology. Otherwise new 5G Standalone users will sometimes receive lower data rates than existing Non-Standalone 5G and LTE-only users.

“Development completion of Option 4 is urgently needed to enable all operators to invest in a new 5G core network without compromising user data rate performance,” said Arash Ashouriha, Chairman of the NGMN Alliance. “Advanced 5G users using 5G Standalone should be able to access LTE on top of NR for a seamless service experience”.

NGMN concludes that Option 4 supporting a 5G core and dual connectivity with NR acting as a master is required so that baseline 5G NR radio performance can be enhanced through the use of LTE on top. 5G Standalone users can then access both NR and LTE spectrum in the lower frequency bands supporting wider coverage when it is beneficial to do so.

Raimund Walsdorf, Technology Architecture & Innovation Access & Home Networks, Deutsche Telekom and NGMN project lead said: “Option 4 development will support many network operators planning an initial 5G Standalone service launch today or a more widespread launch in the future. This option benefits operators to more efficiently migrate spectrum from LTE to NR, while also relaxing the pressure on operators to refarm from LTE to NR as long as spectrum remains dedicated to LTE”.

Anita Döhler, CEO, NGMN Alliance added: “NGMN is committed to support an efficient introduction of 5G Standalone (SA) networks to help the industry to deliver on the performance promise of 5G to end-users. Availability of Option 4 in addition to other options will help to better meet end-user demands in years to come.”

The white paper is a result of an ongoing NGMN project which aims to conduct a trial of Option 4 in 2021. This will encourage Option 4 development within the 5G ecosystem with the aim that 5G Standalone can be introduced in all networks in a timely manner. The support of network and terminal suppliers is sought to progress the trial.

The full White Paper titled, Option 4 as a 5G SA complement White Paper can be found here.

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NGMN and O-RAN ALLIANCE Sign Co-operation Agreement

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Frankfurt, Germany – Today, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance and the O-RAN ALLIANCE have announced to strengthen their relationship and to foster a closer co-operation in the area of Radio Access Network (RAN) decomposition of 4G and 5G networks.

The newly signed co-operation agreement brings together two widely recognised industry organisations in the field of open and standardised 5G networks. NGMN and the O-RAN ALLIANCE aim to enable and to support the timely and successful delivery of 5G-based communication solutions for acceleration and adoption of open and intelligent RAN networks to the market with a global open ecosystem. Starting today, both parties intend to achieve this by initially working together in activities related to transport for disaggregated RAN architectures, eventually expanding the collaboration to other areas.

“NGMN and the O-RAN ALLIANCE share the mission to support the standardisation of 5G interoperable networks”, said Anita Doehler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance. “We are looking forward to a close co-operation with the O-RAN ALLIANCE and to exchange our views on the RAN decomposition for 5G networks, in particular the various RAN functional splits and the transport requirements to support the various deployment options. As a wide number of industry activities are related to this subject, we also look to encourage industry alignment.”

“Since its formation in 2018, the O-RAN ALLIANCE has successfully delivered new standards for an open and intelligent RAN,” said Alex Choi, COO of the O-RAN ALLIANCE and SVP Technology Strategy & Innovation, Deutsche Telekom. “As the transport is the glue that connects radio sites, edge data centres and centralised clouds in a disaggregated RAN architecture, significant effort is required to design and define a robust and scalable transport to meet stringent requirements of future networks. We look forward to working with NGMN to achieve this and we encourage industry alignment.”

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NGMN Alliance Publishes Final Deliverable on 5G Architecture Framework

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Frankfurt, Germany – Today, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance has announced the latest requirements for a 5G End-to-End (E2E) Architecture Framework. It aims to advance the 5G ecosystem to enable heterogenous access, virtualisation, autonomic capabilities, forward-looking service enablers, and emerging usage scenarios that support 5G’s full potential. The content of this publication builds on the architectural concepts and directions described in the first NGMN 5G White Paper, and further related NGMN publications.

“This is an important development and another step in our efforts to support SDO’s in standardizing 5G technologies. NGMN encourages the development of interoperable and market enabling specifications, which will ultimately allow for realisation of emerging use case scenarios,” stated Sebastian Thalanany, UScellular, and NGMN project lead of the 5G E2E Architecture Framework project.

Essential to an evolving 5G ecosystem, the latest requirements from NGMN describe the next steps needed to advance forward-looking technologies and use cases that will enable network service providers to offer new capabilities and enhance the customer experience. With many new 5G use cases to deliver, diverse service deployment from an end-to-end perspective is a challenge. NGMN addresses this by looking at agile service deployment as one of the objectives of a cognitive Platform as a Service, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning data models.

This White Paper outlines the requirements in terms of entities and functions that characterise the capabilities of an E2E framework. Architectural perspectives and considerations underscore the definition of the E2E framework requirements. This goes in hand with the service categories – Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Internet of Things and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications – envisioned for 5G.

Furthermore, the document analyses in detail autonomic networking, which provides a scalable, customisable, and self-organizing model for system-wide automation. Here, virtualisation and programmability are adopted in an end-to-end manner. Self-organization is an integral aspect of autonomic networking for automation that dynamically learns and adapts to changing conditions in the system and its environment, while satisfying service KPIs and the quality of service experience.

“This is another important milestone for NGMN to enable the 5G ecosystem to deliver on its promise and demonstrates the excellence of our Partnership,” commented Anita Döhler, CEO NGMN Alliance.

The published results of its 5G End-to-End (E2E) Architecture Framework project can be found on the NGMN website.

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NGMN Alliance Launches Green Future Networks Project

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Frankfurt, Germany – With its Green Future Networks project, the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance will introduce aligned green targets to address climate action demands across the telecoms ecosystem. Working towards improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions and increasing the use of recyclable materials, the project strives to address the industry’s social responsibility in regard to the impact of the mobile ecosystem on the environment.

The NGMN 5G White Paper 2 has already touched on this subject and will be used as a basis to guide the project, which will have a particular focus on four main topics:

  • End-to-End services footprint, considering not only the energy consumed during service but also the production and disposal of equipment used to provide the service
  • Eco-design of equipment and products
  • Network energy efficiency, e.g. to define the next steps on advanced sleep modes and to explore the on-line network dimensioning by using AI techniques
  • On-board metering in order to provide means to control the energy consumption.

“NGMN is in a unique position to consolidate a common view in the operator’s community to foster the adoption of green solutions, including a common methodology for end-to-end life cycle analysis and eco-design of products. This shared view is essential for enabling a coherent and common green strategy among Telcos, and to fulfil the requirements of regulators and the next customers’ generation,” stated Ana Maria Galindo Serrano, responsible for Green ITN Performance & Communication at Orange, and lead of the Green Future Networks project.

Increasing the usage of green technology and enabling networks with greater energy efficiency is fundamental for operators, since the number and type of customers, connected devices and traffic will continue to grow significantly over the next few years, which may result in an increase of network energy consumption. To tackle this topic, the project will look into the use of renewable energy to reduce the energy carbon footprint and discuss insights on the reduction of the environmental footprint of networks.

“Creating a cleaner and more sustainable mobile network ecosystem is of the utmost global importance and therefore, one of our main goals. We are proud to bring together the entire NGMN Alliance to jointly work on taking action to contribute our share in reducing the risks and effects of climate change, while at the same time achieving significant cost savings for our operator partners as well as many other industry players,” commented Anita Döhler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance.

NGMN 6G VISION AND DRIVERS PROJECT

NGMN Board has launched a project focussing on the Vision and Drivers for 6G

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NGMN 6G Vision and Drivers Project from NGMN Office on Vimeo.

Frankfurt, Germany – The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Board has launched a project focussing on the Vision and Drivers for 6G.
The NGMN Alliance has provided industry-wide guidance on 4G and 5G, supporting global alignment as well as ensuring that next generation mobile networks meet the ecosystem requirements and, ultimately, satisfy customer demand and expectations.A prominent example of NGMN’s deliverables is the first 5G White Paper published in 2015, which had substantial impact on 5G’s standardization and paved the way for 5G Commercialization, followed by the second 5G White Paper (5GWP2) published just recently in July 2020.The NGMN Work Programme focuses on reaching the full 5G potential and supports the industry on delivering and following through with its 5G promise. Drawing on the recommendations of the second 5G White Paper, the NGMN Alliance continues to work on existing 5G activities as well as launching new activities such as the Green Future Networks project, Vertical Industry Engagement and Network Slicing Requirements for Operating System of 5G Smartphones. These activities will ensure 5G continues to evolve and support customers and industry for the next 10 years and beyond.With its new “6G Vision and Drivers” project, NGMN intends to provide early and timely direction for global 6G activities, which will develop the mobile network technology for operation in the future. In this context, NGMN will also facilitate an information exchange within its internal partnership and relevant external stakeholders. NGMN is very excited to be working on this future vision project and to set the footprint for generations to come.Arash Ashouriha, SVP Group Technology Innovation, Deutsche Telekom and Chairman of the Board of NGMN said: “As we continue to implement and further develop 5G to maximize the benefit of its potential, our goal as NGMN is to remain at the forefront of next generation mobile networks. It is therefore essential that we start anticipating the future societal needs and elaborate the drivers for mobile communications in the future.”Anita Döhler, CEO of NGMN said: “The NGMN Board is committed to further drive the implementation of 5G. At the same time, we are looking at the future with our new work on 6G. Our organisation with its network operators, vendors and research associations has played such an important role for the requirements setting of 4G and 5G, and we will continue to provide guidance also for the next generation mobile networks beyond 5G. Interested parties are welcome to contribute to the “NGMN 6G Vision and Drivers” activity.”