Nokia's Ulrich Dropmann Emphasises AI, Spectrum, And Global Standards In India's 6G Drive

By Surabhi Gupta

New Delhi: With the world preparing for the 6G era, India is positioned to play a key role in influencing the future of next-generation connectivity. At the International Bharat 6G Symposium 2025, part of the 9th India Mobile Congress (IMC) in New Delhi, participants included a wide group of industry leaders, researchers and policy makers from around the world who came together to develop a roadmap for 6G innovations and deployments.

Among those global voices was Ulrich Dropmann, Head of External Standardisation Engagement, Nokia, who observed that India's digital service growth will pressure spectrum allocation and efficient use of frequencies to be operative focuses for the journey to 6G. In an exclusive interaction with ETV Bharat, Dropmann contrasted his remarks by presenting Nokia’s vision for a 6G ecosystem, extensive in capacity and powered by AI, that is standardised at a global, regional and local level for regions characterised by both dense urban centres and either remote or rural regions.

Driving 6G through India's digital demands

Dropmann asserted that India's next generation of digitisation—driven by the growth in data consumption and digital public infrastructure, and smartphone growth—is creating exponential demand for high-capacity and low-latency networks. "We see a lot of growth in the demand for services in India, and in order to satisfy that demand, we need more frequencies and more spectrum," Dropmann asserted.

He added that as the world prepares for 6G, the conversation must focus on spectrum efficiency and coverage balance. “When we go to 6G, where we need a better experience, we need more spectrum, with both good capacity and the ability to cover city and rural areas cost-effectively,” he explained.

India's government has already begun evaluating new spectrum bands for 6G deployment, both at the domestic and global levels.

Dropmann stressed that while some bands may emerge within a year, other bands would most likely be assigned on an international agreement in the next three to four years.

AI: The engine driving next-gen networks

One of the prominent themes mentioned in Dropmann's remarks was the transformational nature of artificial intelligence (AI) as a driver for the next generation of wireless systems. “AI has been used for years to manage networks efficiently, predict failures, and optimise performance,” he said. “Now, with advanced AI capabilities, we’re entering a phase where AI can directly influence how radio networks operate.”

He pointed out that AI will not just transform how networks are managed but also drive new types of user experiences and applications, from AI-generated videos and augmented reality (AR) to immersive virtual environments. These applications will demand significantly higher bandwidth and ultra-reliable connectivity, becoming a primary driver of new spectrum requirements.

“Earlier, we were sharing photos; now we’re streaming HD videos. Similarly, AI-generated and AR-based applications will push data demands exponentially higher,” Dropmann said. “AI will be a strong force in driving the need for new capacity in 6G systems.”

The challenge of global 6G standards

Dropmann also touched upon one of the most complex challenges facing the 6G ecosystem, aligning global standards across regions with varying regulatory frameworks. “We’ve had global standards for at least 20 years, and no one wants to go back to a time when your phone stops working as soon as you leave a country,” he said.

Highlighting India’s unique developmental priorities, Dropmann emphasised the importance of ensuring that local needs, such as connecting remote areas in the northeast, are addressed within a globally unified framework. “India has strong priorities for infrastructure development, and those must be satisfied without fragmenting the global standard,” he added.

He also praised India's proactive engagement through platforms such as the Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA), which are supporting the coalescence of domestic innovation with global standardisation initiatives. “India could be among the first countries to roll out 6G as soon as around 2030,” he revealed. Dropmann also expressed confidence that the collaboration of all the regulators, institutions and industry would enable smooth integration into global technologies.

India's 6G Vision: Innovation, inclusivity, sovereignty

The symposium, which was opened by the Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia, was the first step in India’s journey to achieving its Bharat 6G Vision 2030. Scindia remarked that India was not just going to participate, but rather aim to lead the race to 6G on the international stage, with a combination of homegrown innovation, readiness of the regulatory policies, and collaborations with international players.

“India has built a future-ready policy and spectrum framework enabling timely allocation of even the terahertz band to support next-generation networks,” said Scindia. “From indigenous 4G and 5G stacks to Open RAN prototypes for 6G, we are developing sovereign capabilities under the PLI scheme.”

He outlined the six transformative pillars of India’s 6G strategy: Immersive communication, massive connectivity, hyper-reliable low-latency communication, ubiquitous access, AI-native networks, and integrated sensing and communication, under the “6G Innovation Hexacon.”

“India is not following the future; it is creating it,” Scindia asserted.

Rajesh Kumar Pathak emphasised that the symposium’s theme, “Innovate to Transform,” reflects India’s mission to make 6G sustainable, inclusive, and affordable. “Guided by the Prime Minister’s vision of India’s leadership in 6G, we are working towards an ambitious roadmap to ensure our innovations are secure, resilient, and transformative,” he said.

GSMA’s Vivek Badrinath added that 6G will be a critical enabler of future connectivity needs, urging India to continue fostering collaboration between government, industry, and academia. “AI is going to change the way networks are used. A digital future requires inclusivity and access for all,” he said.

Shaping the network of the future

Ericsson’s Magnus Ewerbring and Mallik Tatipamula of Ericsson Silicon Valley echoed similar sentiments on the long innovation cycles that define telecom evolution. Ewerbring noted that the current decade is about validating technologies that will mature by 2030 and beyond. “We’re preparing networks not just for what we know today, but for the unknown possibilities of 2040,” he said.

Tatipamula highlighted growing international cooperation, pointing to the US–India Next G Alliance and the newly announced India–UK collaboration on 6G. “6G means collaboration at a planetary scale,” he remarked.

Forging partnerships and policy alignment

At the symposium, the Bharat 6G Alliance signed MoUs with NASSCOM and the European Satellite Agency to fortify its global partnerships and innovation for research. The alliance also published White Papers outlining India's strategic vision for green and sustainable 6G, data architecture, RF sensing, AI in network evolution, and spectrum.

Dropmann encapsulated the spirit of the event when he said, “When we bring together a diverse range of expertise, then collaboration becomes the path forward. Every step we take leads us closer to developed systems that are sustainable, scalable, and continuously evolving to the advantage of the future."

A global future, from India

The International Bharat 6G Symposium 2025 affirmed India's standing as a thought leader and collaborator in the global telecommunications system. Through the combination of visionary policy-making, homegrown innovation, and global collaboration, India is not just preparing for 6G; it's supporting its meaning.

As Dropmann optimistically noted, “When 6G comes and you have an Indian device, maybe not a phone, but smart glasses or something even more advanced, and you travel to Europe in 2030, it will just work.”