Beyond 5G: The Road to 6G

As operators begin planning 6G strategies, the industry faces a familiar but unresolved challenge: how to convert network innovation into sustainable commercial value. While 6G promises transformative capabilities - from AI-native networks and integrated sensing to immersive digital experiences and autonomous connectivity - many operators are still working to fully monetise 5G investments. This roundtable will explore how telecom leaders can leverage the 5G Era (including 5G Standalone and tG-Advanced) as a strategic bridge to 6G, ensuring that the next generation of connectivity is built around viable business outcomes, not just technical advancement.

Bringing together operators, vendors, analysts, and enterprise stakeholders, the session will examine how today’s 5G deployments can serve as a real-world testing ground for future 6G applications, business models, and go-to-market approaches. Rather than viewing 6G as a distant technology cycle, the discussion will focus on how operators can build on existing capabilities (e.g. network slicing, edge computing, automation, and API exposure) to identify which enterprise and consumer use cases generate measurable demand and genuine willingness to pay into the future.

A key element of the roundtable will be the presentation of potential commercial models for 6G and an early index to quantify demand across industry verticals based on new enterprise survey data. The findings provide real world insight into which commercial approaches have delivered the strongest results to date, where monetisation challenges persist, and which lessons are most relevant as the industry begins planning for 6G.  

The roundtable will centre on three core questions:

• How can operators use 5G and its evolutions (5G advanced and standalone) as a trial period to understand future 6G use cases and monetisation opportunities?
  Participants will discuss how operators can leverage current SA deployments to experiment with advanced services, enterprise partnerships, and new pricing models. The session will explore which lessons from 5G monetisation should directly inform 6G investment priorities, and how operators can avoid repeating past challenges where technical capability outpaced commercial adoption.

• What will truly differentiate 6G from 5G — and which new capabilities will customers actually pay for?
  A central focus of the discussion will be separating evolutionary improvements from genuinely transformative capabilities. Participants will examine which 6G innovations – such as AI-native networks, integrated sensing and communications, digital twins, autonomous systems, and immersive experiences – represent meaningful new value versus incremental upgrades to existing 5G functionality. The roundtable will also explore how operators can better assess customer willingness to pay, prioritise commercially viable use cases, and avoid over-investing in technologies without clear market demand.

• What technology and ecosystem considerations should shape operators’ go-to-market strategies for 6G?
  Beyond the network itself, successful 6G monetisation will depend on aligning technology strategy with commercial execution. Participants will discuss the role of cloud-native architectures, edge computing, AI orchestration, APIs, spectrum strategy, and device ecosystems in enabling scalable services. The session will also examine how partnerships with hyperscalers, enterprises, vendors, and industry verticals will influence go-to-market models, revenue ownership, and competitive positioning in the 6G era.

Designed as an interactive and forward-looking discussion, the session aims to move beyond technology roadmaps and focus on practical commercial strategy. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how operators can use the current 5G SA phase to validate future opportunities, reduce investment risk, and build a stronger commercial case for the transition to 6G.