China extends its 6G lead with successful testing; US turns to Nokia and Ericsson

While we’re still in the early days of 5G connectivity, it’s not too early to do so starts the development of 6G. And as with 5G, Chinese companies are at the forefront of next-generation wireless communications. A recent report from ITHome (through Giz China) revealed that Chinese handset and telecom equipment maker ZTE, along with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), has conducted a sample test of a technology that will be key to the creation of 6G.

Example of 6G distributed autonomous network and digital twin network concept
6G computing power network key tech concept example
Example of 6G terahertz key tech concept
6G communication perception integration key tech concept example
Example of 6G intelligent metasurface tech concept

And the report said that the results of the tests were good. But again, we’re still years away from being able to talk about 6G in a way that would allow us to compare its potential to 5G. In addition to China, research into 6G is also being conducted in the US and Europe. In the United States, Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei and ZTE are banned, so the US is turning to Ericsson and Nokia. Ericsson recently announced it will be investing millions of pounds in 6G research in the UK

According to Ericsson, 6G is expected to be commercially launched in 2030

ZTE helps China get an early lead in 6G development

Ericsson is reportedly following a ten-year plan that would lead to a commercial launch of 6G service sometime in 2030. While standards for 6G have yet to be discussed and approved, some believe download speeds could reach 1 Tbps (Terabits per second). ) which is 1000 times faster than the 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) that 5G mmWave networks can deliver. 6G could also be 100 times faster than the 10Gbps, which is hypothetically the top speed available over 5G.

Ericsson will soon publish a strategy for how it plans to develop 6G. Katherine Ainley, CEO of Ericsson UK and Ireland, said: “We will be setting up a team of 20 senior researchers in the UK and also funding students. The initial focus will be on 6G network and hardware security.”

President Trump wanted US tech companies to make an early jump in 6G development

You may recall that President Donald Trump sent out a tweet in February 2019 trying to get American tech companies to work on 6G. The tweet said, “I want 5G and even 6G technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is much more powerful, faster and smarter than the current standard. American companies need to step up their efforts or they will be left behind.” .”

While the wording of the tweet indicated that Trump did not fully understand the process required to develop 6G, it was an appeal to US tech companies to take the lead in developing the technology early on. But this will not be the case, as the first developments for 6G will again come from China.

Before 5G has run its course, we expect it to enable self-driving vehicles, remote operations (with the surgeon in LA, for example, and the patient on an operating table in London), and many other applications that we can’t even use. still think. So it’s really impossible to even consider what could be coming once 6G speeds are available. The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the faster 6G speeds will allow people to do more things faster than ever before.