China aiming for 6G commercialization by 2030: official

China will strive to realize the commercialization of 6G technology by 2030, and it is expected that standard-setting for the technology will be achieved around 2025, said Wang Zhiqin, the leader of China's 6G promotion team and vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, according to a report by China Central Television on Wednesday.

Wang noted that China began 6G technological experiments last year, and has successively carried out research on 6G system architecture and technical solutions this year, which all lay the foundations for the next step of 6G advancement.

"In terms of 6G development, all nations are at the [early] stage of technological research, and have not yet formed a unified standard in 6G network building and key technology," Wang was quoted as saying in the report.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced on Tuesday that China has allocated the 6GHz spectrum for 5G and 6G systems, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The 6GHz spectrum is the only high-quality resource with large bandwidth in the mid-band, taking into account its coverage and capacity advantages, the ministry said, noting that the 6GHz range is particularly suitable for the deployment of 5G or 6G systems in the future.

China is steadily carrying out relevant technological experiments on 6G and will promote the innovative development of 6G, Zhang Yunming, vice minister of the MIIT, said in a video address to the Global 6G Development Conference in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday, according to a statement on the website of the MIIT.

Zhang said that it is necessary to cultivate the 6G application ecosystem in advance. The country should accelerate the integrated development of next-generation wireless technology with 5G and new industries such as XR and robots to lay a solid foundation for 6G applications.

As a new generation of intelligent and comprehensive digital information infrastructure, 6G requires consensus, collective opinion and close cooperation from global industries, academia and research institutes to enhance the depth of innovation, breadth of integration and strength of cooperation, Zhang noted.

According to Wang, 6G telecommunication technology has opened three new application scenarios that are different from 5G: combining communication and sensitivity, combining communication and artificial intelligence and mass Internet of things based on integrated satellites and terrestrial mobile communication. In the future, 6G will connect not only people, but also intelligence, such as robots and the meta-universe. It will also further improve 5G application scenarios.

Industry observers said that China has a very open approach in telecommunication technology and encourages international cooperation in 6G, which is in stark contrast to the US tech blockade that disrupts global supply chains.

In the process of developing 6G, international cooperation needs to be strengthened to allow more international companies to form an understanding and recognize China's standards in the area. In this case, if the US wants to isolate China's standards, it will be isolating itself, Fu Liang, a Beijing-based tech analyst, told the Global Times on Wednesday.