Arielle Roth, administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), announced plans to launch a new ‘6G Call to Action’ to rally U.S. allies around a shared approach to next-generation wireless networks.
Speaking at a Politico event today, Roth said the initiative is intended to align partners on standards, research and development, market access, security, resilience, and spectrum policy.
“It’s a pledge to ensure that our allies are really working with us on this vision of 6G,” Roth said.
Roth said the effort aims to promote a software-based model for 6G development, as opposed to what she described as a legacy, hardware-driven approach. She said the two models have emerged as the global standards for connectivity. But she emphasized it’s critical that the U.S. unite its allies toward adopting “a software-defined model centered on continuous innovation.”
“The way that America and many of our western allies are trending, and where we shine, is in more of a software-based model of continuous innovation,” Roth said. “That’s a model that really plays to our strengths as an innovator.”
She said the initiative seeks to ensure that this model, characterized by ongoing upgrades rather than long development cycles, gains international adoption. Roth added that global alignment is critical for U.S. companies to scale in the telecommunications market.
“The telecom market is global in nature, and in order for our domestic innovators to achieve scale, it’s important to rally our allies around where America shines,” she said.
Roth said the call to action emphasizes software-defined networks, open interfaces, edge computing, and artificial intelligence as central elements of 6G innovation.
“We have this tremendous opportunity to ensure that a trusted, secure, and resilient model becomes the model that’s adopted internationally,” Roth said. “That’s why we need to work with our key allies early on to convince them around this model.”
Roth did not specify when NTIA would officially launch this effort.