US-based wireless technology company Qualcomm Technologies is aggressively advancing its work on 6G fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite connectivity, aiming to stay ahead in the next wave of wireless innovation. In an interaction with ETTelecom, John Smee, Senior Vice President of Engineering and Global Head of Wireless Research at Qualcomm, highlighted the company's focus on Indian academia, local R&D capabilities, 5G FWA and non-terrestrial networks (NTN).
Also Read: 5G FWA Is a Game-Changer for India’s Low Broadband Penetration, Says Qualcomm Executive
Deepening Academic Partnerships in India
Qualcomm has been reportedly deepening its engagement with Indian institutes and universities, providing students with hands-on access to augmented reality headsets, robots, drones, and Qualcomm laptops. The company is also funding faculty research, student fellowships, and academic publications, creating a robust platform for technological collaboration.
India plays a critical role in Qualcomm's global ambitions, Smee noted. "There is a lot of collaboration between our global teams. The teams here bring dynamic energy and a local twist to how the markets are evolving and developing some of the new use cases in the global first wave that is happening here differently for the first time," he reportedly said. Qualcomm's Chennai design unit contributes significantly to global projects, developing new use cases and innovations tailored to both Indian and international markets.
Driving the Future of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)
On the FWA front, Qualcomm sees 5G FWA as a key growth area, with plans to enhance its capabilities in 6G. The company is working on cost-effective devices and improved specifications to make 6G FWA even more compelling for operators. Beyond FWA, Qualcomm identifies drones and enterprise applications as promising areas for experimentation, alongside growing consumer data demand in markets like India.
"5G FWA is an interesting area. But there is also a lot of discussion about where that should go next. For 6G, we are designing FWA to be even better, because FWA was such an important part of 5G in our discussions with operators. We want to make 6G even better, even with a very compelling cost structure on the device side. We are trying to design a product with specifications so that 6G delivers improvements for that," Smee said in response to a question on partnerships with telcos and FWA.
Exploring New Use Cases: Drones and Enterprises
On use cases beyond FWA, Smee added: "Drone is one. The other one is that I think it's important to think of consumer and enterprise. We see the huge gigabytes (GB) per month data consumption here in India. Enterprises can also have it. But I think what we see in the future is more experimentation around enterprise."
5G Advanced
Regarding 5G Advanced, Smee reportedly highlighted ongoing developments under 3GPP Release 19. The technology is expected to deliver improvements in operator efficiency, uplink performance, and location accuracy, with adoption already underway across global operators. Qualcomm also underscored the importance of Redcap technology, which leverages standalone networks to unlock new pricing models and value propositions, particularly for IoT deployments.
5G Redcap
"Redcap will be very important for unlocking some of that 5G value. 5G Redcap leverages the standalone (SA) network to have a slice of the network that enables it. In my view, the operators who are on NSA should eventually move to SA to get the benefits. Redcap is an important part of unlocking new kinds of price points and value it can offer," Smee explained.
Preparing for 6G
Looking further ahead, Qualcomm is investing heavily in 6G, anticipating transformative changes driven by AI and increasing device-to-network traffic. The technology, expected between 2030 and 2040, is being designed with long-term scalability and future use cases in mind.
"We have a huge team looking at 6G. So, one of the exciting parts of wireless is that you could say the cloud was revolutionary for 5G and 4G. What is transformative is AI and how it is changing networks that are going to be designed and deployed. Looking at future use cases where there is more traffic from the device to the network, our work on 6G is about ensuring that we think long-term for the technology, which is expected between 2030 to 2040, and things are changing quickly right now," he reportedly said, sharing his views on Qualcomm's 6G technology readiness.
Also Read: Qualcomm Envisions a Hybrid AI Future with Enhanced Experiences
Expanding Satellite-Based Connectivity
Satellite-based connectivity remains another area of focus. Qualcomm has a long history in the sector, including work on the Globalstar network, and is now ensuring that chipsets support non-terrestrial networks (NR-NTN) and narrow-band satellite standards (NBNTM). This enables smartphones, smart cars, and other devices to connect with various satellite constellations.
With NB-NTM, we are already supporting on the product side for satellite-based connectivity. "So, for us as a leading chipset provider, it is about ensuring our devices can talk to the different types of satellites and different constellations," he was quoted as saying.
