The 5G vision, outlined in successive NGMN White Papers [1,2] sets out a framework for enabling digital transformation for society and across industry, with a wide range of use cases and associated requirements. 

Commercial deployments of 5G are now progressing around the globe, delivering new capabilities and improved performance for customers. For Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), a set of features that underpin 5G, including disaggregation, softwarization, cloud-native design and operation, autonomous and distributed computing and intelligence, and a multi-access composable core, are enabling new technologies and business models. 

This digital transformation of industry is just beginning and its realisation will continue well beyond this decade, supported by continuous evolution of 5G to meet the requirements of diversified industries.  

In this paper, the NGMN MNOs, with input from NGMN Partners (vendors, research institutions), outline their vision for 6G representing a future evolution of networks enabling differentiated services with expanded market opportunities and novel experience.  It first describes the drivers for 6G, and the key necessities to guide the future technologies to respond to the needs of the end users, societies, and MNOs. This is followed with NGMN’s vision of 6G, its novelty and capabilities to meet the drivers identified.   

We discuss a number of fundamental aspects, including new scope and approach, that need to be considered in design and development of the next generation of standards and technologies. Furthermore, we recommend that research and the development of future ecosystems prioritize the key gaps and challenges discussed in this paper.