Wi-Fi and cellular are the two most adopted wireless broadband technologies in the world, available in billions of devices and used daily by billions of users all around the world. To date, both technologies have been evolving from the standards point of view, on independent paths, resulting in separate technical standards, architectures, and industry ecosystems.
While the cellular standards organizations have made efforts to integrate these systems and positive progress has been made, with converged solutions like Wi-Fi Calling or SIM-based seamless Wi-Fi authentication, broader real-world adoption and implementation have lagged for reasons including the need to harmonize fragmented user experiences, complexity of non-3GPP access methods, costs related to implementation complexity, and the need to learn from previous cellular generations.
WBA’s introductory report on 6G’s potential transformative role titled, “6G – WBA Vision Statement” calls for greater collaboration between all stakeholders if 6G is to deliver on its promise, and details five key vision points for 6G, to achieve ubiquitous connectivity that comprises Wi-Fi, cellular, non-terrestrial networks, IoT LPWANs, and other wireless technologies at its core.
WBA would like to acknowledge the input and support from WBA Members, AT&T, Airties, Boingo Wireless, Boldyn Networks, BT, Charter, Cisco, Comcast, HFCL, Intel, Reliance Jio, Turk Telekom and Telekom Deutschland.
