China has officially started developing a 6G network. While 5G is still barely available worldwide, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology is starting two working groups that will build the new 6G technology, reports the American business channel CNBC.

One working group is made up of representatives from various ministries who will look at how the research and development of 6G should take place. The other group consists of representatives from 37 universities, research institutes and companies and will take on the technical side of 6G. First of all, it will have to be determined what exactly a 6G network should contain in terms of speed and applications.

In September, Huawei's top executive Ren Zhengfei said that he was already working on 6G, but now the Chinese government has officially started.

Last week, Chinese mobile internet providers made their lightning-fast 5G network available to customers ahead of schedule. In doing so, China is way ahead of the troops, as the standard is still 4G almost everywhere in the world.

Only in South Korea and some American and British cities is 5G already available. Not yet in the Netherlands. Only in 2022 will the 3.5 GHz frequency become available, enabling really high internet speeds. This frequency is currently still used by the Ministry of Defence.

Mobile networks in general and 5G in particular are an important divisive factor in the trade war between China and the US. Washington suspects the Chinese government of using Huawei's 5G technology to spy on people. Huawei is therefore on a White House blacklist.

6G still in embryonic phase

The successor to 6G is, despite the fact that China has now taken the first step, still very far away. Deputy Minister Wang Xi of Science and Technology says that 6G is "still in the early stages". "The technical route is not yet clear and the main features and applications have not yet been standardised and defined."

Germany has also conducted research into 6G before, according to Bright. The target was a speed of 400 gigabits per second. In practice, the download speed of 4G in the Netherlands is currently 'only' between 40 and 60 megabits per second, according to telecom analyst Opensignal earlier this year.

According to Chinese Minister Wang Xi, 6G is of great importance for the future: "In this critical period in national progress, we should attach great importance to the development of 6G, coordinate planning, promote it efficiently and open ourselves to innovation in this area."

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