IEEE CSCN 2026 SPECIAL SESSION REPORT
SESSION OVERVIEW
Organised by the Working Group (WG) on Enabling Technologies for Future Vertical Ecosystem Transformation, the special session, held during the IEEE Conference on Standards in Communications and Networks (IEEE CSCN) in London, brought together leading industry experts to examine how 5G-Advanced is evolving towards AI-native, intent-driven and increasingly autonomous 6G networks. Across the presentations and panel discussion, a consistent message emerged: alongside point-solution optimizations, there is growing interest in exploring AI natively within the network architecture, while standards provide interoperable interfaces, trustworthy guardrails and tailored degree of operator control carefully balanced with user privacy and vendor data protection.
PRESENTATION HIGHLIGHTS
- A Scenario Analysis of the European Mobile Industry 2025–2030 — Dr Raffaele de Peppe, NetworldEurope Board Member and Vice Chair. The opening presentation showed the mobile sector’s substantial contribution to European GDP and employment, but warned that subscriber growth, ARPU and operator revenues are likely to remain broadly flat. It argued that AI-driven automation, improved network economics and new digital services are essential, and that 6G investment should follow a cautious, evolutionary approach complementary to 5G.
- 3GPP Networks: From AI-as-a-Feature to AI-by-Design — Dr Milos Tesanovic, Samsung R&D Institute UK. This talk reviewed 3GPP Release 18/19 progress and the technical, interoperability, certification, privacy and data-ownership challenges—and related enablers—to standardising AI. It distinguished “AI for Network” from “Network for AI” and advocated AI-by-design, intent-based interaction, native security and practical AI solutions that reduce operator costs and device energy consumption.
- Towards AI in 6G — Dr Artur Hecker, Huawei Munich Research Centre and NetworldEurope EAG Chair. The presentation surveyed the rapidly expanding 3GPP AI use cases and compared three emerging 6G core architecture options: a separate AI domain, AI functionality embedded in network functions, and a more ambitious agent-based core. Rather than creating siloed, use-case-specific AI services that compete with OTT offerings, it advocated platform thinking: networks should provide open, resource-efficient capabilities—including data preparation, AI execution and carbon-aware infrastructure—to OTT providers and subscribers as first-class users.
- AI Agents & Agentic AI for 6G — Dr Sebastian Robitzsch, InterDigital Europe Ltd. This presentation traced the evolution from isolated and orchestrated cloud systems to autonomous, multi-agent networks, positioning agentic AI as a response to the complexity of future 6G requirements. It called for standards around intent, identity, trust, policy, observability, lifecycle management, inter-agent communication and human oversight—standardising the guardrails around autonomy rather than the AI models themselves.
PANEL DISCUSSION AND CONTRIBUTED RESEARCH PAPERS
The session continued with a lively panel Q&A among panellists and the audience. Discussion explored the meaning of AI-native networks, 5G-Advanced foundations for intent-driven 6G, cross-vendor interoperability and data ownership, assurance of autonomous agents, and the economic and societal gains of AI-native 6G. The programme also featured IAC²: Intent-Aware Cooperative Caching and Assurance for 6G Edge Networks, presented by Prof. Salman AlQatani of King Saud University, on intent-aware coordination of caching and service assurance at the 6G edge; and An AI-Enhanced Framework for Secure and Trustworthy 6G Services: The PAISES-6G Approach, presented by Prof. Hassan Osman of Real Wireless, outlining the consortium’s framework for secure and trustworthy AI-enabled 6G services.
SESSION IN PICTURES
