US President Donald Trump today urged wireless carriers to deploy 5G and “6G” networks “as soon as possible,” seemingly ignoring the small problem that 6G technology doesn’t exist yet.
“I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible,” Trump wrote on Twitter this morning. “It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind.”
I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on………
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019
In a second tweet, Trump said that 5G and 6G are “so obviously the future.”
Trump further wrote that he wants the US “to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies.”
“We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!” Trump concluded.
5G hype in full swing
5G is certainly coming, whether Trump tweets about it or not. But today, there’s more 5G hype and 5G word games than there is actual 5G. Verizon is offering 5G home Internet in a few cities, but for now it’s based on Verizon’s own technology rather than the 5G NR (New Radio) global standard.
AT&T has deliberately misled customers by relabeling large portions of its 4G LTE network as 5G. Smartphone users in areas where AT&T is using advanced 4G LTE technology now see a “5G E” network indicator. 5G E stands for 5G Evolution, but it is, in fact, nothing more than 4G with LTE features like 256 QAM, 4×4 MIMO, and three-way carrier aggregation.
Despite Trump’s tweet, there’s no word yet on whether AT&T is developing 6G F, the natural successor to 5G E. (The “F” could stand for “faux.”) But the cable industry, jealous of all the 5G wireless hype, obtained a trademark for “10G” to fuel a new marketing campaign. The cable industry’s 10G doesn’t refer to the 10th generation of anything, as it’s just shorthand for 10Gbps speedsexpected to be available in future upgrades. Cable lobby group NCTA continued its “10G” push today in a press release issued hours after Trump’s tweet. The press release was titled, “Why Do We Need 10G?”
Trump’s tweet won’t have much impact
Trump’s call for quick 5G deployment isn’t likely to make any real difference, since carriers are already deep into 5G planning and are starting to deploy networks in some cities. His call for 6G also isn’t likely to make any real difference, because each new wireless generation takes years to deploy, and 6G planning is in the embryonic stages at best.
“The International Telecommunication Union [ITU], a United Nations body that helps coordinate global telecom issues, currently has a working group studying what a 6G world might look like,” The Washington Post noted today. “But the group’s name—Network 2030—suggests that a great deal of work lies ahead.”
6G simply hasn’t been defined yet, Network 2030 Chairman and Huawei chief scientist Richard Li told IEEE Spectrum in August 2018.
Source: Arstechnica