GCF at NGMN IC&E 2022 in Paris
- 12 Oct 2022
- Lars Nielsen
GCF was a Cooperation Partner at the recent NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition in Paris and it was exciting to participate in the discussions taking place around the key issues facing the mobile communications industry (and society as a whole).
The event featured an eminent and outstanding line-up of speakers while offering unique networking opportunities with world’s top leaders from major operators, network vendors and academia. The IC&E agenda focused on NGMN’s three strategic focus topics: Mastering the Route to Disaggregation, Green Future Networks, and 6G.
Future technology developments including the roll out of Open RAN were a major focus but of equal, if not greater, importance was the topic of sustainability. The creation of Green Future Networks is a key topic for the NGMN Alliance and the conference hosted a number of innovative green startups who spoke about the solutions they have created.
Other panellists and speakers outlined the requirements necessary, and recommended the path to follow, to become a ‘Green Telco’. This involves creating a clearly defined sustainability strategy, including specific key performance indicators, and having a plan for net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
While most of the attention in this area is on telecom network infrastructure, where techniques such as sleep modes for individual layers within base stations is predicted to deliver significant energy saving benefits, user equipment (UE) has a role to play. With billions of UE devices already connected and 5G adoption growing rapidly, it is vitally important that all new models adopt the standards to support lower energy usage and increased efficiency, and essential that they are tested and certified in a manner that is globally recognised and accepted. GCF’s close cooperation and consultation with NGMN helps to ensure that this is accomplished.
The ongoing interaction between NGMN and GCF is also invaluable in relation to the rollout of new technology UE devices. Consultation between both parties and 3GPP feeds into new standards and, in turn, into the test requirements for the devices. Then GCF operates as a platform that helps its manufacturer members to understand what must be implemented in each device to conform to the relevant standards, and also to complete the necessary certification process.
One of the benefits of the involvement of mobile network operators in GCF, alongside equipment manufacturers, is that it becomes easier to manage the introduction of new models, ensuring they reach the market in a timely manner. Manufacturers are able to have new features implemented in devices and certified at the right time to deliver them to market – that is, when the feature support goes live on the networks.
NGMN and GCF have many members in common and their participation in various working groups contributes to the free flow of information and awareness of new developments across the sector. Recent work by one of these joint members on a testing framework for 5G device network slicing is just one example that demonstrates the complementary benefits of the two organisations.
If you are interested in finding out more about the benefits of GCF membership, contact us at [email protected]