Huawei Targets 6G Commercialization by 2030... Standardization Around 2028

Geopolitical Political Landscape and Deglobalization as Obstacles to 6G Global Cooperation
Analysis Suggests 6G US Ahead of China

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] Huawei, China's largest telecommunications company, has announced plans to launch '6G (6th generation mobile communication)' products around 2030.

Eric Xu (Xu Zhijun), Huawei's rotating chairman, wrote in an article titled "A New Journey of 6G Wireless Communication" posted on Huawei's online community, "Huawei began research on 6G in 2017, the year 5G was commercialized, and the company has set a goal to launch 6G products around 2030." He added, "Huawei will define 5.5G and 6G simultaneously within the next few years."

Eric Xi, Rotating Chairman of Huawei (Photo by Global Times)

However, Chairman Xu emphasized that defining 6G requires more effort from related industries than 5G, and efforts are needed to ensure that the process of defining 6G is sufficiently open, that the participants involved are diverse enough, that communication among participants is adequate, and that the defined 6G vision is sufficiently attractive. This implies that satisfactory 6G outcomes require consultation and discussion among various market participants, which can be interpreted as a hint at the sanctions imposed on Huawei by the United States and other Western countries.

Xu expressed concern that "Huawei's 6G technology and products may still be excluded from overseas markets," adding, "The geopolitical political landscape and the trend of de-globalization are obstacles and challenges to 6G cooperation."

In this regard, China's state-run Global Times reported that Xu's mention of 6G came just before the one-year anniversary (September 15, 2020) of the U.S. sanctions against Huawei. Although Huawei's revenue has been somewhat affected by the U.S. sanctions, the company's net profit increased by 9.8% year-on-year, emphasizing that Huawei remains robust.

The media cited experts who warned that political tensions could hinder the international standardization of 6G, which could lead to increased costs. They forecast that the definition of 6G will be actively discussed around 2023, and the standardization of 6G will be formalized around 2028.

Regarding Xu's mention of 6G, there is also analysis that the U.S. is ahead of China in the 6G technology field. The Chinese media Fenghuang Wang analyzed that millimeter wave technology is highly likely to be used in 6G and expressed concerns about whether Huawei can lead 6G technology. It explained that the U.S. has long been researching to apply millimeter wave technology to millimeter wave 5G. Millimeter waves have excellent data transmission capacity and speed per second but have the disadvantage of not being able to transmit over long distances.

The media also analyzed that millimeter wave technology could be used in satellites in the future and that the U.S. holds a significant advantage in low Earth orbit satellite communications.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.