Wireless 6G – Canada Leads the Way
It is rare that a country can potentially triple its wireless bandwidth and radically improve network coverage with a single decision. However back in May, Canada’s Minister for Science did just that.
Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced the opening of the 3.8 GHz wireless spectrum on May 19, 2021. He had this to say about the move:
“High-quality and affordable wireless services have never been more important in the everyday lives of Canadians. This decision will make staying connected easier for Canadians who rely on their Wi-Fi for accessing school, work and health care from home.”
If anything, this is an understatement of the massive potential business and lifestyle impact that the 3.8 GHz band opens. A combination of local research from Huawei, a push for unlicensed spectrums from the biggest companies in the world, and a renewal of work from home initiatives has created the perfect storm.
However at best, such a step forward represents what experts might consider ‘Full 5G’. The true plans of 6G won’t be fully known until 2030, and are likely to involve the terahertz (THz) range. There may even be a ‘5.5G’ step in between. So why is this announcement important to the future of 6G?
It’s all about sending the right signals.
The History of Developing 6G in Canada
At first, Huawei’s offer to help develop 6G technology in a Canadian based lab seemed like a halfhearted attempt at reconciliation with the only Five Eyes country to avoid completely banning their 5G equipment. It seemed like the Prime Minister was on the verge of making the communications lockout complete.
But things aren’t always what they seem.
By developing the next generation wireless and mobile communication technology in cooperation with some of the leading scientists and academics in Canada, Huawei was putting all of its cards on the table. It was saying: ‘If you don’t trust our 5G equipment, help us make 6G to your own standards.’
So far, it seems to have worked. Not only was a 5G ban avoided despite more than a year of U.S. pressure to enact it but planning for the future of the 6G network in Canada has proceeded without a hitch. As some of the leading innovators within Huawei and throughout the country made their contributions, Canada prepares to fire a shot that will be heard ‘round the world.
An Unlicensed Approach to the Full 5G and Possibly 6G Network
On this aspect of the future of networking in Canada, it was the tech giants who advocated for a new approach to the spectrum. They urged the government to take an action that would triple the available wireless bandwidth, and eventually make the full potential of 5G in Canada achievable.
In December 2020, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft among many other industry mammoths released a joint statement called SMSE-014-20: Consultation on the Technical and Policy Framework for Licence-Exempt Use in the 6 GHz Band.
As boring as that might sound to some, it was a powerful document. Not only did these massive companies all manage to agree on a single policy, but they put their names on an official recommendation to the Canadian government. The implication being, adopting an unlicensed approach to the Full 5G network in Canada was going to attract a massive amount of business and spending from each of those firms. This is likely one of the major motivating factors to the aforementioned bandwidth announcement coming from the Minister for Science.
Such a move suits Huawei and other 6G enthusiasts just fine, as a precedent of open and unlicensed bandwidth can only help their efforts. Once the THz range bands become important, they’ll want a similar deal to what SMSE-014-20 proposed. The public will have nearly a decade of their 5G network operating under these rules to work all the kinks out of the system, practically and politically speaking.
Full power 5925 to 6875 megahertz band broadcasting is a big deal for another reason. The announcement made Canada the global leader in the availability of unlicensed mid-band spectrums. The U.S. still lags behind by a full 100 MHz. Because of backhaul usage, the EU has issues with contention in the upper 6GHz band that they don’t plan to fully address for at least two years.
The new spectrum would have massive reach, offering previously unheard of bandwidth to rural areas. Carlos Rebellon from Intel eloquently explained the benefits to more urban areas:
“It will deliver higher speeds, ultra-low latencies, better energy consumption of connected devices, and it will be perfectly suited in dense environments like the enterprise.”
Beyond that, the Canadian government’s move was a signal to providers big and small. They were saying that this country is the place to plan for the future. Although they haven’t stated it outright, assuming this unlicensed policy for the 6GHz spectrum works out, their forward looking policies are very likely to apply to the future 6G network as well.
What Will 6G in Canada Look Like in 2030?
It’s too early to set any specs in stone, and no one company or country sets the standards. Huawei has their own vision, but it’s more vague than some would like. Their statements have revolved around an evolutionary leap forward in bandwidth at ultra high frequencies, at least if they expected anyone to adopt it. They’re likely to be assisted by such giants as LG and Samsung on the standards side, once some of the technology leaves the lab and hits the real world.
The competition might have a thing or two to say about those theoretical standards, of course. In mid July 2021, a massive 6G telecoms project in Texas was announced with the backing of AT&T, Samsung America, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. Although multiple labs establishing their own visions of 6G is a good thing, since competition helps fuel innovation, it might also confuse standards in the future.
Whether Huawei’s Canadian research lab sticks to their guns and settles for nothing less than a communications evolution, or whether they’ll be forced to set their sights lower due to the realities of time-to-market, is anybody’s guess.
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