While 5G is just starting to become available on a mass scale, corporations and nations are already looking to what’s next—6G. With an aim of commercializing by 2030, not much time is left to make the necessary strides in research and development.

When will 6G come out?

While not much is yet known about 6G, we can outline some of the latest projects and developments going on around the globe, to have a better idea of what a 6G future might look like. In November of last year, China sent the first 6G experimental satellite into space. While it’s not sure what the fate of the satellite will be, it’s clear China is heavily invested in the development of 6G. Furthermore, Huawei admitted to working on both 5G and 6G simultaneously, while much research is still needed on new air interface technologies and network architectures.

Adoption, and rapid commercialization of 6G

South Korea is not far off either—starting this year, the government pledged to invest ₩200 billion over the next five years towards 6G technology. Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and the University of Oulu have also teamed up to conduct joint research to achieve basic 6G network security. In the US, the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) created the ‘Next G Alliance’, which was launched in October of last year to make the move towards 6G. All of the top tech firms like Apple, Google, Cisco, AT&T, Bell Canada, Ericsson, Facebook, Microsoft, Nokia, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., Samsung, T-Mobile, Verizon, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, LG Electronics, VMware, and many others have joined ATIS with the intention of exploring 6G possibilities together. The organization believes that “By leveraging the knowledge gained from the development and early deployments of 5G, the U.S. can establish itself as a global leader in ideas, development, adoption, and rapid commercialization of 6G.”

If we turn to Europe, all eyes are on the University of Oulu in Finland. In 2019 their research program was the first from anywhere in the world to publish a 6G white paper. Next to this, In January 2021, the European Commission launched their 6G flagship initiative Hexa-X, which is quite promising. If we move our attention to the other side of the world, we see that Japan has been interested in 6G since 2020 and has pledged to invest ¥50 billion in research and development for 6G wireless communications services. Though it remains uncertain what the future of 6G will actually look like, it’s clear the world is working hard to find out as soon as possible.

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