China to pursue major standards-setting role in 6G mobile technology amid Chinese lab’s recent breakthrough
- China’s new digital economy blueprint, which was drawn up in line with its 14th five-year plan, sharpens the country’s focus on 6G technology development
- That reinforces a similar policy directive issued last month by the Cyberspace Administration of China
China will boost support for 6G research and development and “proactively take part in setting international standards” for the sixth-generation mobile communications technology, according to Beijing’s latest digital economy plan.
The number of 6G patent applications has exceeded 38,000 globally, with submissions from China making up more than 30 per cent to rank first among all countries, according to a report in April last year by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, also known as the country’s patent office.
Some industry professionals, however, have indicated that 6G is still a decade away because the world has yet to agree on technical standards that would support 6G frequencies, signal modulations and waveforms.
“It’s a bit rushed to promote 6G development from an industry viewpoint,” said Wei Rong, an Beijing-based researcher with a government communication think tank. “But it might be appropriate for the central government to promote 6G scientific research for early preparation.”
The ITU said it plans to release the report “Vision of IMT beyond 2030”, with the accepted external recommendations, in June this year. IMT refers to international mobile telecommunications. The agency expects this report to “give the very general vision and guidelines for the global network of networks that 6G will be”.