L4S and the Future of Real-Time Performance in 5G and Beyond
As mobile networks continue to evolve to support increasingly immersive and responsive services, the importance of consistent low latency has never been greater. Whether it is cloud gaming, extended...
View ArticleIs 6G Our Last Chance to Make Antennas Great Again?
At the CW TEC 2025 conference hosted by Cambridge Wireless, veteran wireless engineer Moray Rumney delivered a presentation that challenged the direction the mobile industry has taken. With decades of...
View ArticleUnderstanding L1/L2 Triggered Mobility (LTM) Procedure in 3GPP Release 18
In an earlier post we looked at the 3GPP Release 18 Description and Summary of Work Items. One of the key areas was Further NR mobility enhancements, where a new feature called L1/L2-triggered mobility...
View ArticleDummy Loads in RF Testing for Dummies
I have spent many years working in the Test and Measurement industry and have also worked as a hands on engineer testing solutions, and as a field engineer testing various solution pre and post...
View ArticleSoftware Efficiency Matters as Much as Hardware for Sustainability
When we talk about making computing greener, the conversation often turns to hardware. Data centres have become far more efficient over the years. Power supply units that once wasted 40% of energy now...
View Article5G+ and 5GA Icon (Pictogram) in New Smartphones
As 5G matures, new icons are appearing on smartphones to distinguish faster or more advanced connections. Some of the latest 5G smartphones around the world have started showing new icons such as 5G+...
View ArticleSeamless UE Context Recovery (SUECR) in 3GPP Release 18
3GPP Release 18 introduces a wide range of enhancements across the 5G system, from energy efficiency and XR optimisation to AI-powered features. Among these developments is a practical but important...
View ArticleEvolving Communication Security Towards 6G at the ETSI Security Conference 2025
The annual ETSI Security Conference returned to the French Riviera from 6 to 9 October, once again bringing together the global cybersecurity community in the beautiful surroundings of ETSI...
View ArticleAIoT and A-IoT
Our industry loves acronyms. In fact, sometimes it feels as if half our job is simply keeping up with them, while the other half is explaining them to everyone else. A recent example I saw referenced...
View ArticleIET Lecture by Prof. Andy Sutton: Point to Point Microwave Radio Systems
Point to point microwave radio systems have been with us for more than eighty years, yet they rarely attract much attention in an era where fibre dominates network planning and satellite systems...
View ArticleTransport Networks Holding Modern Mobile Architectures Together
When people talk about mobile networks, the conversation almost always starts with the air interface. Spectrum, waveforms, MIMO, antennas and radios dominate conference agendas, white papers and...
View ArticleTop 10 Posts for 2025
As we come to the end of another busy year, it is time once again to look back at what readers found most interesting on The 3G4G Blog. This year we again crossed over 3 million views, the same as last...
View ArticleTelecom Security Realities from 2025 and Lessons for 2026
Telecom security rarely stands still. Each year brings new technologies, new attack paths, and new operational realities. Yet 2025 was not defined by dramatic new exploits or spectacular network...
View ArticleSeven AI Concepts Shaping Network Intelligence
AI has become so deeply embedded in our everyday working lives that it is no longer limited to data science teams or research labs. In telecoms, AI now plays a central role in network planning,...
View ArticleStrengthening Critical Infrastructure Security with OSINT
Cybersecurity conversations in telecoms often focus on IT systems, cloud platforms and enterprise networks. Yet beyond the data centres and mobile cores lies another domain that is arguably even more...
View Article3GPP Study on Modernization of Specification Format and Procedures for 6G (6GSM)
The development of each new mobile generation is not only about new technologies and capabilities. It also requires evolution in the way standards themselves are created, maintained and consumed. As...
View Article3GPP Release 19 Description and Summary of Work Items
As the journey towards 3GPP Release 20 and 6G (3GPP Rel-21) continues to gather pace, the recently concluded Release 19 comes with a clearer view of what the next phase of 5G evolution, often referred...
View Article7 MHz Brings Much Needed Flexibility to 5G NR
The evolution of channel bandwidths in 5G NR has been relatively conservative compared to earlier generations, but recent developments in 3GPP Release 19 show that this is beginning to change. The...
View ArticleCBRS Comes of Age as a Shared Spectrum Success Story
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service, better known as CBRS, has often been described as an experiment in spectrum sharing. Based on the latest OnGo Alliance webinar on the state of CBRS, that...
View ArticleMid-Band Spectrum Still Matters for 5G and Beyond
Mid-band spectrum has become one of the most important parts of the mobile network story. Low-band spectrum is essential for wide-area coverage and better indoor reach, while high-band spectrum,...
View ArticleRelease 19 Takes Satellite, NTN and Aerial Connectivity Further
3GPP Release 19 continues the evolution of 5G-Advanced and, among many other areas, brings important enhancements for satellite access, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS),...
View ArticleFrom Voice-Centric to Data-Driven Critical Communications
Back in 2024, I came across an excellent GSMA APAC webinar looking at the evolution of critical communications from predominantly voice-centric systems towards broadband, data-driven solutions. I had...
View ArticleFrom 3GPP MPS to Wi-Fi 7 EPCS
Back in January 2011, I wrote about Enhanced Multimedia Priority Service, or eMPS, in 3GPP Release 10. At the time, the focus was on extending priority treatment beyond basic voice calls to packet data...
View ArticleWhy Connectivity on Trains Is Still So Poor
Anyone who travels regularly by train will recognise the experience. The phone shows a mobile signal, sometimes even 5G, but webpages refuse to load, video calls freeze and messages remain stuck...
View ArticleNext Generation eCall Finally Moves to 4G and 5G
Back in 2022, I wrote about the transition from the original eCall system to Next Generation eCall, or NG eCall. At the time, one of the big concerns was what would happen to millions of vehicles...
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