Research organizations across the globe agree that 6G will begin to roll out in 2030
Research organizations, associations and consortiums dedicated to the study, development and promotion of 6G technology are popping up in every region of the world. For many of them, there is an emphasis on making the next generation of cellular as sustainable as possible and ensuring that it delivers connectivity to the far reaches of the globe, whether that’s up in the mountains, out at sea or just to every rural and urban household.
Below is a rundown of five of these 6G organizations.
1. The Next G Alliance
ATIS’ Next G Alliance hopes to position North America as a leader in 6G technology leadership over the next decade through private-sector-led efforts. The emphasis for this group is the research and development and commercialization of 6G systems.
One of the group’s research priorities is sustainability, with projects about things like reusing and reducing water, waste and materials in ICT networks, the optimization radio and core architectures, reducing the environmental impact of supply chains and enabling network decarbonization.
Additional research priorities for the Next G Alliance include applications like distributed sensing and communications, robotics and autonomous systems and XR use cases; societal and economic needs like digital equity and data privacy; and technology like advanced MIMO and sub-THz and the development of AI-native interfaces.
2. 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA)
Across the pond, the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA) is focused on a variety of areas related to 6G including standardization, frequency spectrum, R&D projects, technology skills and collaboration with key vertical industry sectors.
Notably, the association is particularly interested in developing trials and fostering international cooperation around these key areas. “The 6G-IA brings together a global industry community of telecoms & digital actors, such as operators, manufacturers, research institutes, universities, verticals, SMEs and ICT associations,” states the Association on its website.
The 6G-IA also says it “represents the private side” in the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) and the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), while the European Commission represents the public side of these two initiatives.
The 6G-IA and the U.S.’s Next G Alliance jointly published the “EU-US Beyond 5G/6G Roadmap” earlier this year, which the pair said is a “major first step in affirming the two regions’ commitment to collaborating in the development of 6G networks.”
“With this TTC 6G common vision as a basis, we aim to scale up the existing R&D cooperation on 6G between the US and EU funding agencies,” they said in a statement, adding that doing so will “create a critical mass among like-minded partners in global regulatory and standardization bodies.”
3. China’s IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group
Established by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in June 2019, China’s 6G Promotion Group brings together the country’s government bodies, universities, telecommunications companies, equipment manufacturers and chipset and terminal makers to promote 6G in a wide range of areas, including at a technological level and also in terms of economic and social impacts.
Like the other groups mentioned, China’s 6G Promotion Group lists a main objective as the promotion of international cooperation in the development and adoption of 6G systems.
China has issued statements outlining plans to begin commercializing 6G technology by 2030, with the standard-setting for the technology expected to be achieved around 2025. “In terms of 6G development, all nations are at the early stage of technological research and have not yet formed a unified standard in 6G network building and key technology,” said Wang Zhiqin, the head of China’s 6G promotion team and vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.
According to Wang, 6G-related research has opened new application scenarios which include combining communication and sensing, combining communication and artificial intelligence and massive IoT based on integrated satellites and terrestrial mobile communication.
4. Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium
On its website, Japan’s Beyond 5G Promotion Consortium states that its purpose is to enable the “early and smooth introduction of Beyond 5G,” which it said includes the promotion of things like Open RAN, network autonomy, scalability and ultra-low power consumption and latency.
The Consortium is also aimed at increasing the “international competitiveness” of cellular technologies beyond what we’re seeing in 5G “in order to realize the strong and vibrant society expected in the 2030s.”
The group published a 283-page long whitepaper called “Message to the 2030s” that details what it deemed the necessary requirements for a communication system that acts as “social infrastructure,” as well as key concepts, network requirements, capabilities, architectures and technologies for 5G-Advanced (5G-A) and beyond.
5. Bharat 6G Alliance and the 6G Flagship tie up
This last one is a twofer: India’s Bharat 6G Alliance is an initiative run by Indian industry, academia, national research institutions and standards organizations that focuses on the design, development and deployment of 6G systems technology. In June 2024, the Alliance signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Finnish-based 6G Flagship program to boost research activities in the 6G field.
The specific areas of joint study include the requirements for 6G, architecture and use cases, identification of common interests, building of consensus and collaboration to support development of globally harmonized standards. Further, a central theme for this tie up is the concept of a “common 6G vision” that will encourage cooperation between European and Indian R&D organizations and industries as they all advance their telecoms networks and infrastructure. Cooperation, they said, will help create secure and trusted telecommunications and resilient supply chains, as well as enable global digital inclusion.
“This collaboration with the Bharat 6G Alliance is a strategic move to advance our research and development efforts and achieve our shared goals of driving societal digiti[z]ation through cutting-edge 6G technology,” said 6G Flagship Director Professor Matti Latva-aho. “By aligning our priorities and pooling our resources, we can unlock new possibilities and accelerate the delivery of transformative 6G capabilities on a global scale.”
Bharat 6G Alliance has also signed MoUs with the NextG Alliance of USA and the 6G-IA.
