{"id":452513,"date":"2026-05-30T09:49:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452513\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:49:25","slug":"6g-the-next-gen-of-wireless-tech-nobodys-ready-to-pay-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/452513\/","title":{"rendered":"6G: The next gen of wireless tech nobody’s ready to pay for"},"content":{"rendered":"

Networks<\/a><\/p>\n

Standards body on track for 2028 specs drop. Telcos on track for 2028 existential crisis about 5G ROI<\/p>\n

The first 6G deployments could arrive in 2029, with the US and South Korea likely leading early adoption,\u00a0according to Juniper Research,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Juniper forecasts 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) will publish the first 6G
\ntechnical specifications by 2028,\u00a0with global connections reaching 4.6 million at launch in 2029 and climbing to 2.9 billion by 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe Far East and China are expected to account for nearly three-quarters of connections by 2030, followed by North America, with Western Europe a distant third.<\/p>\n

Don’t hold your breath if you’re in the UK, though,\u00a0where the mobile networks are\u00a0still struggling to deliver a satisfactory 5G service<\/a>. Nations that led 5G rollouts will lead 6G too, we’re told.<\/p>\n

6G technology is still in the global research and standardization phase, but experts we asked agreed\u00a0it may be ready in a couple of years \u2013 though the markets for it may not.<\/p>\n

“A good comparison point would be the uptake of 5G at the
\nend of 2020,” CCS Insight research analyst Joe Gardiner told\u00a0The Register. “I believe the GSMA found there were 234 million connections
\nglobally at the end of 2020. Therefore, the forecast of 290 million connections
\nglobally by the end of 2030 seems reasonable, given population growth and
\ngrowing digitalization, particularly in Asia.”<\/p>\n

There may be a slower rollout of 6G, he added. “Given
\nthe difficulty that some operators have found in monetizing 5G, they may not be
\ninterested in investing in 6G\u00a0unless clear use cases are established. Use
\ncases, therefore, may be focused more on enterprise or military applications
\ninitially; and there could be a slower rollout to consumer networks.”<\/p>\n

PP Foresight analyst and founder Paolo Pescatore agreed, telling
\nus: “The telcos are not even thinking of 6G in their current roadmaps, as it is
\nan unwanted distraction. Significantly, they are still looking to recoup on
\ntheir existing investments in 4G and 5G. For now, they are firmly focused on
\nproving the value of 5G-Advanced while preparing the foundations for 6G.”<\/p>\n

In selected markets, there will be opportunities to grab “bragging
\nrights,” he added, with scope for novel 6G services to be tested at major
\nsporting events, including the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n

Juniper’s report acknowledges significant hurdles
\nremain, especially as 6G networks require governments and regulators to allocate new spectrum.\u00a0Industry must also
\nsolve a number of technological challenges, including the issue of network
\ninterference arising from the use of high-frequency spectrum.<\/p>\n

The GSMA had originally proposed a frequency range of 7-24 GHz, with a
\nfocus on the 7-15 GHz range, but walked back on that last year and now favors lower frequencies closer to those already in use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As with 5G, the lower frequency bands allow a base
\nstation or cell tower to cover a wider area, and the higher frequency bands allow
\nfor greater data throughput at the expense of reduced range.<\/p>\n

The technologies expected to shape 6G range from the exotic to the pragmatic. The exotic includes Reconfigurable
\nIntelligent Surfaces, which are materials with unique electromagnetic
\nproperties that Juniper says are required to mitigate the effects of
\nsignal interference at higher frequencies.\u00a0Research into this has been ongoing for several years, as
\nreported<\/a> by The Register, as a way of enabling terahertz
\nfrequency bands in 6G deployments.<\/p>\n

Satellite networks are also likely to have a big influence on 6G, particularly those enabling standard smartphones connectivity.\u00a0Juniper expects 6G to bring about a convergence of
\nterrestrial and satellite communications networks, building on the progress already made with 5G.<\/p>\n

The end result is a space-air-ground integrated
\nnetwork (SAGIN), potentially eliminating
\nconnectivity dead spots, even in remote or mid-ocean areas,\u00a0according to the IEEE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joint Communications and
\nSensing (JCAS)\u00a0is another possibility, letting network infrastructure double as environmental sensors for enterprise use.\u00a0\u00a0\u00ae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Networks Standards body on track for 2028 specs drop. Telcos on track for 2028 existential crisis about 5G…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-452513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}