6G Photo: VCG

Chinese government officials and industry experts said on Thursday that China will try to formulate a set of standards for ultrafast 6G, advancing innovation, and embracing openness and win-win partnerships, despite challenges and hurdles posed by the US and its allies.

At a seminar promoting 6G technology and standards named IMT-2030（6G）on Thursday, Han Xia, chief engineer for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), outlined how China will help form global industry standards for 6G.

Han noted that in seeking to create a unified standard, "China will strengthen exchanges and cooperation among global 6G promotion organizations, enterprises, universities and research institutions to create a favorable environment for 6G worldwide," Han said.

Han stressed the importance of "optimizing the development layout of supporting industries such as chips and new materials in order to form a good situation for both upstream and downstream development."

Industry experts said that China holds significant advantages in formulating standards for 6G, and that future standards will be based on the joint work of different industry players.

The development of the telecom industry has always required unified standards under which, equipment makers, telecom operators, and devices manufacturers can plan with certainty, and can engage in research and development constructively, with less cost and risks, Ma Jihua, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The message from the MIIT is in line with the national strategy, and future standards will contribute to the development trend and common interests of global openness," Ma said.

China has advantages in playing a key role in the formulation of new 6G standards given China's mature technology and industry development in both 5G and 6G, industry insiders said.

Latest data show that as of August, China has built the world's largest 5G mobile network, rolling out 1.03 million 5G base stations. In terms of the number of global 5G standards, China's essential patents account for more than 38 percent of global total, ranking first in the world.

A recent report released by China Internet Network Information Center shows that China has become the main source country for patent applications in the field of 6G technology. 

But development of 6G faces many challenges. Ma said that it will be difficult to form unified international 6G standards from a political perspective given the divisive role of the US and its allies. 

Global Times