Josephine Condemi
What is 6G? How does it differ from 5G? Who is developing it, and what are the European projects working to make it sustainable from the design stage? The event The Future of Connectivity: 6G and Social Impacts held during Rome Future Week provided an opportunity to answer these questions
Once upon a time, there was the mobile phone: 6G promises to retire the “cell-based” signal distribution that gave mobile phones their name. Instead of the towers that currently ensure “zone-based” electromagnetic coverage, the mobile devices themselves—among others—will become “mini-repeaters” for shorter signal transmissions, which are distributed continuously and hopefully with less energy emission. In November 2023, the International Telecommunication Union, the UN agency responsible for setting global telecommunications standards, published a framework1 emphasising one of the network’s developmental goals as comprehensive sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. The detailed 6G standard is expected in 2025, with full deployment by 2030. So, what exactly is being worked on?
What is 6G, and how does it differ from 5G?
6G is the sixth generation of mobile technology. Since 1979, the transition between each generation has occurred approximately every ten years. From a user perspective, 2G enabled SMS, 3G provided internet access, 4G introduced video streaming, and 5G paved the way for the Internet of Things. However, 5G is still struggling to gain widespread adoption due to infrastructure investment challenges and concerns about electromagnetic pollution. As a result, in Europe, the “Standalone” 5G network, which does not rely on 4G, covers only 41% of the population, with over half of the rural population lacking access to any advanced network2.
The 5G standard is based on a three-tiered network architecture3: the terrestrial level, which includes radio technologies like 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi; the aerial level, encompassing high-altitude platforms and unmanned aerial vehicles up to 50 kilometres in height; and the space layer, which consists of satellite constellations in highly elliptical (HEO), low (LEO), very low (VLEO), medium (MEO), and geostationary (GEO) orbits.
This has partly enabled the virtualisation of the telecommunications network, meaning the replacement of physical infrastructure with software technologies that replicate processing, storage, and network load-balancing functions (often cloud-based). This allows for the construction of private, customised connectivity networks based on specific needs, such as inside a factory, a shop, or a stadium.
However, with 5G, the signal distribution system remains “cell-based”, requiring tall coverage towers to prevent the “millimetre waves” on which it operates from losing power between antennas. The 6G bet is instead on even shorter frequencies—“submillimetre” terahertz waves—capable of transmitting far more data over much shorter distances with a drastic reduction in latency, or wait time. In place of antennas, there will therefore be many hotspots, wireless access points made up of the smart devices themselves connected to the network: not just phones but also wearables, appliances, robots—any system with an embedded chip will act as both a receiver and a repeater.
The 6G standard, set out by the International Telecommunication Union, outlines a peak data rate of 50 to 200 Gb per second, user-experienced data rates of 300 to 500 Mbps, latency from 0.1 to 1 millisecond, and connection densities from 106 to 108 per square kilometre. All this data traffic would be managed by AI interfaces capable of balancing loads and consumption in real-time. At the same time, submillimetre waves have the potential to detect the surrounding environment with great accuracy, enabling, via radio signals, geolocation, mapping, and communication within indoor spaces (where GPS, for example, does not work well), and the positioning of connected devices. This could enable multisensory digital transmission—from holograms to mixed-reality digital objects, from contactless touch to gesture recognition, even to olfactory and gustatory interaction. And not forgetting sustainability—an unprecedented feature that the ITU has included for 6G, focusing on a circular economy (reduce, reuse, recycle of resources) and improved energy efficiency.
Who is developing 6G?
The first global initiative on 6G development was European: in 2018, the University of Oulu in Finland launched 6GFlagship, a research programme set to conclude in 2026.
In November 2020, China launched the first 6G satellite into space. By 2023, 6G became a top priority for the Chinese government, even featuring in the 2023-2025 Metaverse Development Action Plan as one of the enabling technologies. In Asia, TSDS, an Indian telecommunications company, submitted its vision to the ITU in 2021, and India currently holds around 200 6G-related patents. Meanwhile, South Korea, which tested the first terahertz wave data transmission with multinational LG in 2022, will host the Pre-6G Vision Fest in 2026. Japan’s Beyond 5G Promotion Strategy, published in June 2020, has a total budget of $555 million, with an additional $4.5 billion in a joint investment with the United States. In the US, while the government forges strategic partnerships, the roadmap is entrusted to the Next G Alliance, primarily made up of industry giants. In 2020, Brazil launched the Brazil 6G Project, which appears to be implemented with Chinese collaboration. In Europe, 6G development is entrusted to the Smart Networks & Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), established in 2021 and funded by the EU budget and industry associations, with an €18 billion budget for the 2021-2027 period. The Hexa-X programme, funded by Horizon 2020 and running from 2020 to 2023, was followed by Hexa-X-II, funded within the SNS JU, with the task of contributing to the 6G standardisation process, particularly focusing on comprehensive sustainability principles. The Deterministic 6G programme, meanwhile, has been asked to structure an end-to-end communication network, i.e., point-to-point, from device to device, and time-critical, meaning it can modify its responses in real-time.
6G: acceptability and acceptance
«This is the moment when 6G standards are being developed. What we are doing is analysing the controversies inherited from 5G and consulting with citizens to define the key value indicators—the social values to be incorporated into the technology’s development—and then passing them on to technicians and policymakers»explains Carmela Occhipinti, co-founder of CyberEthics Lab, outlining the goal of the 6G4Society project, also funded by the SNS JU. Occhipinti emphasises:
Finally, the European Commission has made it official that all 6G projects must feature comprehensive sustainability: economic, social, and environmental.
Carmela Occhipinti is an innovation manager. With a degree in Political Science from “La Sapienza” University, she has worked in ICT for decades, having been a Senior Project Manager and head of security research at Engineering Ingegneria Informatica. In 2019, she co-founded CyberEthics Lab with Antonio Fiorentino, a consultancy where she serves as CEO, which was recognised as a Key Innovator by the European Commission.
«This is a major achievement because people’s involvement is always at the heart of a technology’s acceptability—they must be listened to. Ex-ante acceptability indicates what is deemed necessary in development, while ex-post acceptance depends on how well the acceptability criteria have been integrated». However, acceptability and acceptance do not always go hand in hand. «For example» Occhipinti notes, «social media is accepted, but often not ethically acceptable. Conversely, something that could be acceptable with better communication might not be accepted». Acceptability and acceptance were discussed on 16 September at the workshop The Future of Connectivity: 6G and Social Impacts, organised by CyberEthics Lab as part of Rome Future Week, the first widespread event dedicated to the future, held in Rome.
«Most participants associated the first words with 5G and 6G as “connection speed”, but the real innovations are different and typically not presented», says Luigi Briguglio, ICT Consultant at CyberEthics Lab. And what are these innovations? «5G marked the convergence between computing and communications» Briguglio explains. «6G will further increase this convergence between fibre optics, Wi-Fi, and satellites, bringing computation ever closer to the source of information».
Luigi Briguglio is an electronic engineer, researcher and ICT consultant at CyberEthics Lab. He graduated in “Electronic Engineering” at the University of Padua and is involved in European research projects on Embedded Systems. In July 2015, he obtained the PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. He is a member of PMI-Central Italy Membership Committee. His topics of interest are software architecture, data management, project management, embedded systems, management and control systems, automation. He is author of scientific articles on ICT, data management and digital long-term storage systems. He has worked in the energy industry with the development of management and control systems based on sensors and custom electronic components. He has done research at the National Institute for the Physics of Matter on the development of a controller for a SNOM microscope.
This means the possibility of connection everywhere, but also, he emphasises «battery-less devices that harness ambient electromagnetic fields and communicate with each other without relying on a tower. There is always reluctance towards the unknown: as far as telecommunications standards are concerned, what is often perceived from the outside is a race every ten years to increase transmission or connection capacity. But Marconi, when he developed the first wireless telegraph, did so to save the lives of fishermen who couldn’t communicate from their boats, with a humanitarian and social objective». For this reason, Occhipinti highlights the social value of connectivity: «Today, there are areas where the internet is truly inefficient due to structural problems: either the fibre can’t reach due to war or geographical challenges, or there’s a reluctance to invest. But it remains a form of discrimination».
Will 6G succeed where 5G has also struggled? Expectations from the research world are growing. At the Rome Future Week event, Livia Di Bernardini and Francesca Foliti, project managers at APRE – Agency for the Promotion of European Research, highlighted the work being done to integrate sustainability by design into all enabling technologies under the Industry 5.0 strategy through the Forging project
Livia Di Bernardini is a project manager for the APRE- Agency for the Promotion of European Research, where she deals with projects funded by Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. She holds a degree in “International Relations” from the University “Roma Tre”, a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Luiss and was a research assistant at IRIS – Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques.
Di Bernardini notes: «6G emerged from our analysis as one of the technologies with potentially great positive social and environmental impact. From a technical standpoint, it should guarantee resilience to failures and interruptions, comply with legal standards, and possess a certain degree of interoperability to allow different communication protocols to interact with each other. As for environmental concerns, it has a structure that enables recycling of hardware parts, while its social impact should be ensured by greater access to services, thus increasing inclusion for all citizens».
Francesca Foliti is project manager for the APRE- Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea, where she is in charge of the Horizon Europe projects of Clusters 3 “Civic Security for Society” and 4 “Digital, Industry and Space”. A graduate in “Political Science and International Relations” from the University of Perugia, she was an analyst for Emergent Risk International.
Since 2022, the Forging project has brought together experts to discuss the various scenarios that Industry 5.0 technologies could enable: «By 2025, the goal is to present a set of technologies to the European Commission that, based on our analysis and feedback received, are the most promising from a social and environmental perspective», Foliti concludes. «We call them responsible technologies because they take these criteria into account». Will acceptability and acceptance be shared?
- For the framework, see International Telecommunication Union (2023, November). Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2030 and beyond (Recommendation ITU-R M.2160-0), ITUPublications. https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/m/R-REC-M.2160-0-202311-I!!PDF-E.pdf ↩︎
- For more, see European Commission (2023, June 28). First report on the State of the Digital Decade calls for collective action to shape the digital transition, European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_4619 ↩︎
- For more on 5G levels, see European Space Agency (2023). 6G and satellites: intelligent connectivity for a sustainable future, ESA. https://connectivity.esa.int/sites/default/files/ESA_6G_White%20Paper_Dev_Proof_V14..pdf ↩︎
