The International Telecommunications Union has published some details of its framework for 6G networks, and many of the objectives are what you’d expect. Compared to 5G, 6G will support higher speeds, lower latency, be more spectrally efficient, energy efficient, feature artificial intelligence and sensing.
Peak data rates of 50 Gbps, 100 Gbps or 200 Gbps
User experienced data rates of 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps
Spectrum efficiency 1.5 and 3 times greater than that of IMT-2020 (5G)
Area traffic capacity of 30 Mbps/m2 and 50 Mbit/s/m2
Connection Density could be 106 to 108 devices/km2
Mobility Maximum speed, at which a defined QoS and seamless transfer between radio nodes could be 500 – 1 000 km/h
latency (over the air interface) could be 0.1 – 1 ms.
In addition to those quantitative metrics, there are the expected qualitative benefits. The framework document includes talk of ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous intelligence, immersive multimedia, digital twins, virtual worlds, smart industrial apps, digital health, ubiquitous connectivity and sensing integration.
As with prior generations (3G, 4G, 5G), many of those qualitative outcomes might be delayed or available only in rudimentary form.
There are good reasons why mobile operators are much more concerned about “application revenue” than home broadband providers. Mobile operators always are in the “applications” business, where home broadband providers are only in the “internet access” business.
In other words, mobile operators derive significant revenue from their own voice and messaging applications. ISPs providing home broadband mostly make money from subscriptions providing the internet access function. Most of their other revenue is related to the access function, such as equipment rentals or install fees.
Also, mobile operators are dependent on government regulators to authorize additional spectrum, so there is a political underpinning to arguing that additional spectrum will lead to public advantages beyond “faster speeds.”
Still, in large part, the success of built-in “app capabilities” will likely be hard to predict. Since mobile network value includes a mix of “apps” (largely voice and messaging) and “internet access” (dumb pipe access), much--if not most--of the value comes from the “internet access” function.
As for home broadband networks, faster speeds are a continual requirement, as are support for carrier voice and messaging. Beyond those essential functions, it always is difficult to say how much other value can be reaped directly by mobile operators in the “apps” space and beyond connectivity itself.
6G might not be so different from earlier generations in that regard.
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