LIVE FROM MWL UNWRAPPED: THE 5G EVOLUTION: Ankur Kapoor, SVP and Chief Network Officer for T-Mobile US, outlined how the operator has charted a course toward 6G for a future defined by AI-native, intent-driven networks.

Speaking to Mobile World Live on the second day of Unwrapped, Kapoor stated the operator’s early leadership across standalone (SA) 5G and 5G-Advanced are key for 6G.

Kapoor explained T-Mobile got the early SA 5G jump on rivals AT&T and Verizon by rolling it out in 2020, which led to a nationwide launch of 5G-Advanced earlier this year.

5G-Advanced enables network slicing for first responders and for businesses through a new plan called SuperMobile. T-Mobile also introduced six-carrier aggregation (6CA) on its SA 5G network earlier this year.

In July, the operator unveiled a large-scale deployment of low latency, low loss and scalable (L4S) technology across its network, which Kapoor said is ideal for gamers.

Lastly, he highlighted 5G-Advanced enabling 5G reduced capability (RedCap) features on the latest Apple smartwatches.

“We’re one of the only two carriers globally that actually have a 5G-Advanced rollout nationwide,” he explained. “And a big part of that was kind of what we did four or five years ago when we started rolling out 5G.”

6G
Kapoor explained 5G-Advanced sets the stage for AI-native and intent-driven networks, which are key elements of 6G.

T-Mobile is collaborating with Nokia and Nvidia to embed AI and machine learning into a network fabric, to enable autonomous optimisation, predictive maintenance and seamless adaptation to user needs.

“If 5G-Advanced is the foundation of this, 6G is the horizon,” he said. “[We’re] very confident we will be leaders in 6G and extremely optimistic that we’ll be the first ones to roll out 6G in the United States as well.”

Kapoor pointed to the formation of the operator’s AI-RAN Innovation Centre last year with partners Ericsson, Nokia and Nvidia as the starting point for intent-driven networks.

“The progress has been fantastic,” he said. “This is a technology that I think we will innovate in the United States and the rest of the world will follow.”

While it is not yet 6G, Kapoor said T-Mobile is in early trials for intent-based networking, including real-time optimisation of the network during weather-related emergencies.

“That’s where we are optimising our network on a minute-by-minute basis through our self-organising networks,” he said. “That’s a start of this intent-based network journey.”

He continued: “If you think of the networks, they’re a little bit of a dumb pipe. We’re going to take them into the 6G era from a dump pipe that just carried bits and bytes to an era where actually it’s token-based and it’s intent-based.”

Kapoor stated he is optimistic T-Mobile will utilise AI-RAN functionalities on its network starting with possible field trials next year, but he noted the vendor ecosystem needs further development.