5G is the newest generation of cell networks, and it has only been around since 2019. It already seems impossible that we could go back to 4G. T-Mobile has been talking about what the next big leap,6G technology, will bring and when it could arrive, so even the super-fast 5G isn’t the fastest mobile internet speed.
You might think it would take a long time to get here, but T-Mobile’s chief technology officer says that the US could get 6G technology as early as 2030. Also, it’s likely that the US will be the first place to have these kinds of speeds, and Europe is likely to fall behind.
6G Technology could be here by 2030.
The US and China are in the lead
This month, Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile’s chief technology officer, talked about 6G at an event in Copenhagen. He said in his presentation that T-Mobile is working hard to get to the next level of cell connectivity, with the goal of rolling it out by the end of the decade. What would be the biggest benefit of 6G? As you might expect, speed is the most important thing, with latency expected to be less than one millisecond.Â
But it also has a much wider bandwidth, can use up to 100 times more data, and could connect more than 500 billion devices around the world. Of course, AI was brought up since it’s 2025. Ewaldsson also said that a 6G network would be “artificially intelligent” and able to meet the needs of each user.
There is some pie-in-the-sky here, but no one can blame T-Mobile for wanting to do big things. And while US businesses are looking ahead to 6G, China is also working hard to get past 5G as quickly as possible. China Mobile is rolling out 5G-Advanced, and it has 50,000 sites with speeds up to 4.2 Gbit/s. This makes China one of the leaders in the race to reach 6G.
On the other hand, European carriers didn’t say much about 6G. Instead, they talked more about how AI could be used to improve 5G networks. People have said that European carriers were behind the US and China when it came to 5G, and it looks like that will continue with the move to 6G.
This might seem like a small problem that only affects people in Europe, but it could have effects on the whole industry. People are worried that if Europe doesn’t push for 6G, it could cause a split in the 3GPP, which sets the rules for how mobile networks grow. There is a lot of pressure to make the switch to 6G smoother than the switch to 5G, but European carriers are taking their time, which could make that harder.
But it’s still very early days for 6G, so things could change a lot. There is no doubt that 6G is coming, and it will probably mark the start of a new era in smart technology.