Days after China launched the world’s largest 5G commercial network; the country has already started its research and development into 6G.
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology says several of the country’s ministries and research institutes have been pooled together to create two national technology research and development groups.
The first group consists of relevant government departments that will promote how 6G research and development will be carried out. The second group will team up with several universities and research institutes and enterprises mandated to layout 6G’s technical side.
Although this may come earlier than expected, the Chinese government had even hoped to kick-start 6G development at the end of 2018 with a commercial rollout planned to be in the late 2020s.
China has been a laggard in the 4G deployment, as compared to the US. But in 5G, the country is regarded as the global leader.
With the world’s largest 5G network, Huawei has been a major key player in the country’s telecom equipment market. Kicking off the 6G race is in line with US President Donald Trump, who has been quoted before saying he wants America to take the lead with 6G.
However, it is not about China and the US alone in the 6G race. Samsung and the 6Genesis project in Northern Finland have already begun 6G research and development.
Despite the 6G race already catching fire, 5G is still in infancy stages around the world. Many people merely read about 5G, being swayed in the hype, but have not experienced it yet. In Kenya, there is no word on 5G deployment even from the country’s largest Telco Safaricom.
