The Race for 6G: United States and China Compete for Insane Connection Speeds

While the fifth generation (5G) mobile network is becoming more democratic around the world, several countries have already started their programs to develop the sixth generation (6G). THE UNITED STATES are already planning their roadmap, the objective being to come out on top against China after the fiasco of the previous generation.

A meeting was led by the Biden Administration around the development of 6G

On April 21, Joe Biden welcomed experts from private companies, scientists from research institutes, as well as members of the government specializing in telecommunications. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss and reflect on the development of the next generation of mobile network, 6G. The United States fears to be left behind in this sector by China in the coming years.

The sixth generation is one of the issues of the technological competition in which the two superpowers have embarked in recent years. In 2021, the Middle Kingdom held more than patents than anyone in the matter and had already put into orbit a satellite 6G. Earlier this year, China Unicom, one of the country’s leading operators, said it would complete its research and development phase by 2025, when it would present its prototypes.

The Chinese government expects commercial services related to this new technology to exist before the end of the decade. For the Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Jin Zhuanglong, ” China leads the pace of 6G research and development in the world, […] while we are already ahead in the deployment of 5G mobile networks and applications ».

Both the United States and China hope to achieve insane connection speeds

A senior representative of the Biden Administration admitted to the Wall Street Journal what ” China was effectively using 5G to achieve its economic and national security goals, such as gaining global market share on the West for its telecommunications manufacturing companies, of which Huawei is a part “. Another member of the government asserted that “ Beijing had really prioritized its telecommunications sector, and I think we may not have ».

Following this meeting, all the stakeholders affirmed that it was necessary to take the time to secure the network as well as its development in the coming years, to avoid confidentiality problems. China’s aggressive 6G policy has its shortcomings. The European authorities have also already begun to work on the subject, as evidenced by the launch of a project in Germany with the participation of Nokia.

However, all the countries on the starting line will have to deal with the same difficulty. Indeed, in order to offer an optimal connection, close, if not equal to what fiber optic offers, it is interesting to use terahertz (THz) frequencies. These frequencies pose signal distance problems and have difficulty penetrating certain environments, such as clouds or fog.

This month, China would have proposed a transmission reaching a speed of 100 Gb/sec. A very correct connection speed, because 50% more consistent than that which can be reached by 5G. However, specialists agree that if the THz frequencies were better controlled, it would be possible to reach a connection speed ten times higher, reaching 1000Gb/sec.