Next-Gen Multiple Access: The strategic edge in spectrum efficiency, IoT, and ultra-low latency.
What would happen to the wireless future, though, when it turns out that spectrum scarcity is not the problem, but how we use it?
With the industries moving towards 5 5G-Advanced and gearing up to 6G, the debate concerning next-generation multiple access (NGMA) is intensifying. However, far too frequently, the discussion is lost in technical language, power domains, rate splitting, and hybridization. The actuality executives are forced to confront is even more blunt and egregious: NGMA is not an engineering trifle. It is a strategic driver that has the potential to make or break the leaders and the laggers in the hyper-connected economy.
Table of Contents
The limits of legacy thinking
The upside executives can’t ignore
The boardroom conversation
The long game
The limits of legacy thinking
TDMA, CDMA, OFDMA—these acronyms built the wireless revolutions of the past. But 2025 has rewritten the playbook. We no longer design networks for millions of phones; we design them for billions of sensors, vehicles, wearables, and immersive endpoints.
Legacy schemes optimize for fairness and efficiency, but they were never built for a trillion-device ecosystem. That’s why leaders should be asking: are we clinging to frameworks designed for yesterday’s problems while pretending they can handle tomorrow’s scale?
The upside executives can’t ignore
NGMA is not just a capacity, but a competitive advantage opener:
- Spectrum efficiency in markets where auctions of spectrum are in billions.
- Enormous IoT linkage in the energy and logistics sectors.
- Low latency that enables remote surgery and autonomous mobility.
- Equity and flexibility that maintain industrial networks when they are highly stressed.
The throughput gains of NGMA schemes with 6G testbeds were up to 50% in 2024. It is not a bump at all, but a business model enabler. The increased speed and smarter access are translated directly to customer retention, high-value enterprise services, and products differentiated in numerous telecom markets.
The hard truths are slowing adoption.
Of course, every breakthrough comes with its friction points. For executives evaluating NGMA, the challenges are real:
- Implementation costs and integration headaches.
- Higher energy consumption in decoding raises sustainability red flags.
- Fragmented standards, with 3GPP still debating which access schemes will define 6G.
- New attack surfaces to be redesigned with security in mind.
Failure to manage such obstacles may result in carving up the network, and the enterprises will be left with fragmented systems that compromise the notion of a network that is seamlessly connected.
Here’s where the conversation shifts. NGMA isn’t just a technology discussion—it’s a board-level strategy issue.
- Do we invest heavily now, or wait and risk being locked out of first-mover advantages?
- Do we build proprietary ecosystems, or partner to spread the cost and speed adoption?
- Do we shape policy and regulation around fairness, or let competitors set the rules?
The wrong answer here isn’t simply “lower efficiency.” It’s lost market share, diminished influence in standards-setting, and an inability to monetize advanced services when 6G arrives.
By 2030, NGMA won’t just matter to telecom. Smart cities, energy grids, autonomous fleets, and healthcare networks will rely on it as invisible infrastructure. Leaders who act today position themselves not just as network providers but as ecosystem orchestrators.
The bigger question is whether companies see NGMA as an incremental upgrade—or the strategic inflection point it truly is. Betting small may feel safe, but in a future where connectivity defines competitiveness, safety might be the riskiest choice of all.
If wireless access is the foundation of the digital economy, should executives really treat multiple access as a background concern? Or is it time to elevate it to the front line of corporate strategy—right alongside capital allocation, sustainability, and digital transformation?
The companies that answer that question decisively won’t just build faster networks. They’ll build the future that others will be forced to follow.
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