The government of South Korea said that the country’s ambition is to demonstrate pre-6G technology by 2026
The government of South Korea expects to start a project focused on the development of future 6G systems in 2024, local news site Business Korea reported.
According to the report, the government announced a budget of KRW440 billion ($332.4 million) for this purpose.
The government said that the country’s ambition is to demonstrate pre-6G technology by 2026 and secure 30% of the 6G international standard patents.
On August 23, the Ministry of Science and ICT stated that the development project for the next-generation network 6G technology has passed a preliminary feasibility study.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said: “There’s been a rapid change in 6G technology trends due to global technological supremacy competitions, including increased 6G technology development investments by major countries like the U.S. and China.”
The report noted that South Korea intends to pursue technological developments in five key areas: Upper-mid band (7-24 GHz) technology, coverage expansion technology, software-centered networks, energy-saving and supply chain security enhancements.
The Ministry aims to validate the technology at each phase to ensure its tangible utilization during the 6G commercialization period, the report added.
“Based on interim results, we plan to invite major international telecoms companies, manufacturers, standard experts and government officials to South Korea for a ‘Pre-6G Technology Demonstration’ event in 2026. By the end of the project in 2028, in collaboration with major domestic corporations and SMEs, we aim to showcase the potential and vision of the 6G ecosystem and to secure competitiveness in the initial 6G market,” the Ministry said.
Last year, the Korean government announced that it was working on next-generation network development strategies together with local carriers and tech firms SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
The government and the companies aim to carry out cooperation activities for the development and innovation of 5G backbone and as-yet-unstandardized future 6G networks, the Internet of Things (IoT) and satellite communication.
The standardization process for future 6G systems is in its early stage. In June 2023, the International Telecommunication Union-Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party (WP) 5D published the framework recommendation of 6G networks, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030. In addition, the first discussion on 6G candidate frequencies is scheduled to take place at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) at the end of this year. Meanwhile, the WP 5D is expected to begin working on the technical performance requirements of 6G from 2024.
