How Far Away Are We from 5.5G to 6G?

Recently, Huawei’s world’s first 5.5G intelligent core network solution has been officially released, and this solution has completed all 5.5G functional testing and technical performance testing. At present, we are collaborating with multiple key operators in regions such as China, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and Europe to carry out pilot verifications. This year, it is expected that the global commercial scale of 5.5G will be achieved.
5.5G accelerates the realization of billions of IoT
5.5G is a transitional mobile communication technology between 5G and 6G. Compared to 5G, 5.5G can improve connection speed, latency, positioning, reliability, etc. by about ten times, and has the potential to achieve millisecond level latency and low-cost IoT worth billions.
Compared to 5G, the most intuitive experience that 5.5G brings us is “fast”, and it is 10 times faster in one go. The maximum download speed of 5.5G data will be increased from gigabit in the early stage of 5G to 10G, which can support the high bandwidth, low latency, and high possibility required for innovative businesses such as augmented reality and naked eye 3D; The maximum upload speed of data has also been increased from hundreds of megabytes to gigabytes, which can support massive data to be fully uploaded to the cloud, live streaming to be popularized, and holographic interactive symmetric experience.

In addition, 5.5G also has many new features, such as supporting full scene, full capacity, and billions of connections, which can range from industrial grade high-speed connections to large-scale passive IoT.
It is understood that Huawei’s 5.5G full range of full scenario solutions released this time can achieve significant improvements in capacity, speed, latency, positioning, reliability, and other aspects compared to 5G. As expected, China’s 5.5G network is expected to achieve large-scale commercial use this year.
Three major telecom operators innovate and accelerate smart life
In the era of 5.5G, the network experience for consumers, home broadband, and office parks will be improved from 1Gbps to 10Gbps. For ordinary consumers, this means that in the future, it is possible to smoothly watch ultra high definition live broadcasts, upload 3D movies and spatial videos in real-time, and other media types that require a lot of data in a 5.5G environment.
In terms of industrial applications, China Telecom led the world’s first application of 5.5G dynamic frame sharing at the Hangzhou Asian Games venue. In addition, it also took the lead in launching industry application scenario validation, and carried out 5G-A empowering mining and steel industry application scenario validation in Shaanxi, Shanghai and other places.
China Mobile announced that it will launch the world’s largest commercial deployment of 5G-A in over 300 domestic cities this year, and has completed network deployment on a scale of 1000 stations in hot areas such as Shanghai and Hangzhou.

China Unicom has launched various applications based on the 5G-A network and created the first ultra-high definition shallow compression coding broadcasting system based on 5G-A, setting a record for the highest uplink bit rate in the broadcasting field worldwide.
What is the level of progress in 6G technology?
Since 5.5G will be fully commercialized this year, people will pay more attention to when 6G will arrive? What is the current level of progress in China’s 6G technology? How far is it from us ordinary people?
China has established a 6G promotion team since 2019, which systematically promotes various work such as demand, technology, standards, and international cooperation, and initiates 6G technology trials. In June 2023, the International Telecommunication Union completed the 6G vision requirements proposal, clarifying typical 6G products and key capability indicators. Among them, China proposed 5 typical 6G scenarios and 14 key capability indicators.
Wang Zhiqin, the leader of China’s 6G Promotion Group and Vice President of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, introduced that 6G technology is a new technology for intergenerational updates of 5G. Mobile communication is updated every ten years, and the commercial time of 6G technology is basically around 2030. Its standardization will be formulated in 2025.
Wen Ku, Chairman of the China Communications Standardization Association, stated that there is still some distance left for 6G to land. In the future, firstly, we need to do a good job in sorting out 6G technologies and conducting key technology validation, as not all technologies can reach the end; The second is to do a good job in connecting 6G and 5G, strengthen the infrastructure construction of 5G, and promote the commercialization of 5G-A through four aspects: standards, technology, application, and industry. Potential 6G technologies should be introduced in advance in the 5G-A standard; The third is to increase technological innovation efforts, strengthen open cooperation, and actively invite international enterprises to participate in China’s 6G research and development.