LIVE FROM MOBILE WORLD LIVE UNWRAPPED DIGITAL INDUSTRIES: Antonio Calderon, CTO at NATO’s Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), told Mobile World Live about how a multinational 5G initiative is laying the groundwork for interoperable communications across military and civilian applications.

Despite the rapid acceleration of technology today, Calderon emphasised that the military alliance’s mission “remains the same: to defend our 1 billion citizens of the 32 NATO nations”.

To achieve this objective, “our agency is at the forefront on understanding new technologies, testing, experimenting which ones are the most impactful for our mission, and delivering those capabilities across all NATO nations”, he explained.

Central to this effort, Calderon highlighted the alliance’s Multinational 5G (MN5G) initiative, which reflects a “dual-use paradigm” where civilian technologies are adapted for defence purposes.

Launched in 2024, MN5G aims to bring together NATO allies to integrate 5G into military systems, with a focus on standardisation, security and the development of future-proof military-grade applications.

Calderon explained that interoperability remains central to the initiative, not only for military operations and political coordination, but also for engagement with civilians during crises. He noted the importance of ensuring communications with emergency services such as hospitals and fire brigades, emphasising the need for seamless connectivity.

Networks and platforms could “benefit enormously if, for example, we bring 5G as the connecting fabric that will absolutely be a cross force multiplier for our missions”.

Initial support
While Spain, Italy and Turkey are initial participants in MN5G, Calderon confirmed that other nations are also in the process of joining. He stressed that collaboration between countries and across sectors is essential to success: “It’s people connecting people, and then technology, processes and standards come afterwards.”

Early takeaways from the project’s Spain rollout have highlighted the importance of integrating operations across NATO’s five domains, air, land, sea, cyber and space as well as effectively managing limited resources such as spectrum, Calderon explained.

He also noted that NATO can tap existing frameworks to achieve multinational standardisation quicker. “I’m also trying to influence NATO that we don’t need to reinvent the wheel…  we can faster deliver what we want by adopting existing standards that industry has been leveraging for years.”

Looking ahead, NATO aims to have laid the digital foundations to keep up with the pace of innovation for future generations. “The motorways are there, and now it’s more about reinventing applications and use cases.”

To watch the full interview click here.