5G is just around the corner and we are yet to experience the full power, the geopolitical race in developing the next big thing is already in the works.
Although we are still a decade ahead before 6G would be brought to the public, big corporations and governments are already working hard on who would receive the patent in what they call the next industrial revolution. Still, a theory but 6G would be 100 times faster than what 5G can offer. This would bring to life what we think we only see in science fiction such as holograms, flying cars, and the like.
The battle is truly heating up especially the two superpowers, the US and China. The two are now racing against time on who would lead the way into the future.
The competition has even become an “arms race” according to Peter Vetter, the head of access and devices at Nokia Oyj’ research arm Bell Labs. He even mentioned that for both parties to remain competitive, it would require at least an “army of researchers” to do so.
Although China has suffered dearly under the Trump administration due to the ban of Chinese smartphones especially Huawei, they have remained competitive and even made a huge impact in 5G technology. With the development of 6G, this would boost and even be an advantage in regaining control over wireless technology.
Recently, China has launched a satellite and has already started scanning for potential 6G transmission back in November according to Canadian media reports. It was also mentioned that Huawei has a 6G research center in Canada. ZTE Corp has already set a deal with China Unicom in developing the technology further.
Now, it seems that the US is already getting ready for the battle. It has already started the Next G Alliance last October with ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions), a US telecom standards developer. Under this alliance, we have big names such as Apple Inc, AT&T Inc, Qualcomm Inc, Google, and Samsung Electronics.
It is still clear that the United States still sees Huawei as a threat stating that the company is an espionage risk. This has resulted in a ban from all Huawei devices across the US and has also influenced other countries such as Japan, Australia, Sweden, and the UK. However, Huawei is still welcomed and would possibly partner with other countries such as Russia, the Philippines, Thailand, other countries in Africa and the Middle East to further develop and even launch the 6G technology.
Also, the European Union has shown interest and have unveiled back in December a 6G wireless project. This project will be led by Nokia and is partnered with Ericsson AB, Telefonica SA, and other universities.
As of now, it is still early to say who would dominate and claim a patent for 6G technology. We are still about to see on what are the benefits of the 5G technology but along the way, we would get more information on what the two giants are planning on the next step for the future.
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