The state-owned newpaper, China Daily, reports 6G initiative is part of drive to expand the digital economy.
China’s government is believed to be pushing the development of 6G, setting out a timetable between now and 2025, reportedly to ensure it keeps up or exceeds advances in Europe and the US.
The European Commission announced the Hexa-X project, to be lead by Nokia, in December 2020, after the launch of the North American the Next G Alliance in October. In Feburary, the institute CEA-Leti announced another EU 6G research project with 13 participants including Orange, Telecom Italia and NEC Europe.
Five-year plan
The newspaper report said this is part of a wider “digital China” objective to ensure technology provides fresh economic impetus: the digital economy is a key focus in the fourteenth Five-Year Plan, designed to see China’s core industries contribute 10% to GDP by 2025 through digitalisation.
Yang Xiaowei, Deputy Head of the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a briefing that the country would accelerate R&D of 6G technologies, construction of a large-scale 5G network and a push around IPv6.
He reportedly explained more effort would be made to build up systems and standards “to accommodate data flow, cross-border data transmission and data security protection”, as China looks to reap the benefits of the digital economy.
China has also already been active, launching what it claimed was the first 6G experimental satellite to test communications for space using high-frequency terahertz spectrum in November 2020.