For the fifth year, ATIS’ Next G Alliance partnered with Informa to produce the Network X Americas 6G Summit, which took place on May 20 at the Irving Convention Center. The following are key insights the NGA delivered and gleaned from the event: 

The Key Role of Vertical Engagement 

For 6G to deliver on its full potential return on investment (ROI) for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, understanding how the future network can serve as a catalyst for innovation in vertical industries is crucial.  While initial interest in vertical sectors was broad, the recent focus has been on utilities, agriculture and public safety, reflecting their strategic significance for North America.  Throughout the vertical sessions at the 6G Summit, such as those focused on farming and utilities, it was noted that these critical sectors currently lack representation in 3GPP.  As a result, the NGA recognizes the value of engaging with key stakeholders across various verticals to understand their long-term needs and ensure their perspectives are reflected in future standards development. 

Insights gained from this vertical engagement can then inform telecom industry discussions on how existing 5G architecture — and the evolving 6G architecture — can address these requirements. Where gaps exist, the NGA and its members can help identify and advocate for the necessary changes in future standards. Strengthening the NGA’s collaboration with public sector partners across strategic verticals will be essential to this effort. Incorporating the needs of vertical industries from the outset has been a long-standing priority for the NGA.  

Explore the findings from the NGA’s recent  Forging the Future with Industry Verticals Workshop held earlier in 2025. 

The Role of AI/ML 

The topic of AI and ML arose as part of the vertical discussions, and sustainability in AI/ML is being positioned as a key driver for 6G. Data and AI are not merely enablers of 6G; they have already become fundamental game changers across the entire end-to-end system architecture. AI is actively used beyond the connectivity layer today, and emerging 6G AI agents will need to integrate seamlessly with these existing external AI systems. 

To be successful, 6G must be AI-native, capable of delivering “Service Experience at Scale” and adaptable to a wide range of use cases — extending even beyond traditional communications. 6G should build on existing 5G radio hardware and be delivered primarily through software upgrades, rather than requiring changes to the physical layer (PHY). Meeting future traffic demands will require adaptive, AI-enabled protocols that extend to end devices and enable real-time optimization across the network. However, many verticals—and perhaps the broader industry—have yet to clearly define how they will derive practical value from AI/ML integration or the shift toward more sustainable network architectures. 

Open RAN in 6G 

Operators discussed the importance of scalability and open-source principles in shaping 6G. O-RAN’s principles of openness, AI-native operation and cloud-native architecture are strongly aligned with many 6G visions for North America. 

Academia’s Role 

At the event, academia was recognized as an important contributor to 6G development, both in advancing foundational research and in building testbeds for prototyping — such as through platforms like Open Air Interface. These testbeds are essential for driving industry innovation and supporting the growth of university spin-offs and start-ups. (Learn more about the Next G Alliance Research Council, which brings together leading industry and academic experts from the NGA to collaborate on the development of a comprehensive North American 6G research strategy.) 

Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) 

The Economics of NTN panel featured key players in the Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) space Iridium, Globalstar and Skylo.  Key players note a growing trend of consolidation within the NTN ecosystem; mergers between satellite constellation providers may become necessary to achieve sustainable revenue models. 

The conversation around 6G NTN largely centered on the current state of NTN within 5G (often referred to as NTN-1G), with relatively limited focus on its future evolution toward 6G, or NTN-2G. Several commercialization challenges were noted, including complex issues such as spectrum allocation, usage, and sharing across national boundaries, etc. 

Thus, while broad in scope, the key takeaways from the 2025 Network X 6G Summit offered valuable insight into the major issues shaping the future of 6G and showcased insight from NGA leadership and members.  The Next G Alliance is already working in many of these areas to establish the foundation for North American leadership in 6G and beyond.