While most carriers are still in the early stages of their 5G deployment, Huawei has already begun research on its sixth generation network solutions at its labs Ottawa. The Chinese tech giant is reportedly working with over 13 universities and research institutes on the project.
“5G is already pretty new, and 6G is part of the so-called 5G evolution,” said Song Zhang, Huawei’s vice president of research strategy and partnership in Canada.
With 5G in its infancy, it will be a long time before 6G rolls out. Huawei estimates it’ll take ten or more years, by which time 5G should have become mainstream.
Earlier in the year, news broke out that Samsung made similar 6G strides at its research base in Seoul. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Huawei is also trying to position itself among the front runners in the next generation of mobile connectivity.
Despite developing 6G in Canada, the country is one of several still to decide if it will allow Huawei to use its technology in the nation’s 5G networks, but the decision will be made following the Canadian federal government election this fall.
LG is also working on 6G. The Korean firm, in collaboration with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), has opened a research center dedicated to the standard. China, meanwhile, aims to build a test 6G network for 2020.
