Explainer | What is 6G and why is China racing ahead of US and Europe with the technology?
Sixth-generation wireless communications will change the way we interact with the world but not all countries are embracing it
Envision a future where the lines between the physical and digital realms are indistinguishable: a world where holographic representations attend team meetings and autonomous vehicles navigate city streets guided by digital twins.
While the successor to the 5G wireless standard is still under development, the international community is negotiating regulatory standards that will pave the way for its commercial deployment by the end of this decade.
Not all countries are as positive about 6G as China. An industrial report published in the Chinese journal Scientia Sinica Informationis last year noted that there were “still obvious differences in the attitudes of different countries and regions towards 6G”.
“European and American operators are not willing to develop 6G due to the relatively lagging 5G deployment,” said the report, which was drafted by the leading players in China’s telecommunications sector.