Global Race to 6G: Domestic and international experts gather in Beijing to discuss the future of communication technology

China News Service, Beijing, March 28 (Reporter: Chen Hang) Currently, countries around the world are accelerating the development of the 6G industry. At the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum being held in Beijing, experts at home and abroad discussed the emerging new landscape of future communications.

6G refers to the sixth-generation mobile communication technology. Huang Yuhong, President of the Zhongguancun Fanlian Institute and President of the China Mobile Research Institute, said in an interview that global 6G is at a key stage of both technical standards and industrial building. Among them, China, which is in the first echelon, has played an active role in the standards formulation system. It has completed the drafting of the first 6G requirements research report for the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that it led, and has also actively advanced the formulation of wireless technology and network technology standards.

Huang Yuhong said that in addition to high reliability, low latency, and fast data rates, 6G also has features such as integrated sensing and communication, integrated space-and-ground connectivity, and integrated intelligence. 6G is not only an important part of the future industry, but also a key information infrastructure supporting intelligent applications.

For consumers, 6G will bring systemic change. Xu Xiaodong, Vice President of the Zhongguancun Fanlian Institute and a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that 6G will continue the improvement in bandwidth and data rates brought by 5G while expanding the boundaries of the user experience. This includes building a three-dimensional communications network covering land, sea, air, and space, providing reliable connectivity for scenarios such as remote areas and high-altitude environments; and deeply integrating AI to make it easier for users to use intelligent services.

2026 is a pivotal year for 6G development. Jin Yidun, Full-Time Vice President of the Zhongguancun Fanlian Institute, said in an interview that from the perspective of the R&D timeline, before 2026, 6G will mainly focus on technical exploration, and afterward will gradually shift toward technical convergence and system development; at the standards level, targeting the commercial goal for 2030, the coming years will be a critical window period for standards formulation and substantive advancement.

Satellite internet is an important component of 6G communications. This year’s Government Work Report clearly calls for “accelerating the development of satellite internet.” Chen Shanzhi, Deputy General Manager and Chief Engineer of China Information and Communications Technology Group Co., Ltd., said that users such as forest rangers, border defense personnel, fishermen, and outdoor travelers, as well as scenarios including civil aviation, drones for low-altitude flights, and wide-area operations for oceans and lakes, and when natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods damage ground communications facilities, all need to rely on satellite communications to experience “getting online anytime and anywhere.” These real needs also provide guidance for large-scale application and industrial development of satellite internet.

As 6G moves from technical R&D to industrial cultivation, terminal form factors will show trends toward diversification, intelligence, and immersion. Huang Yuhong said that in the 6G era, intelligent glasses will transmit what users see to the cloud in real time and display the information they need, enabling “seeing is knowing.” Wearable devices will continuously monitor body data to predict health conditions, turning into a “health guardian.” Service robots will enter thousands of homes with the role of a “human companion,” handling tasks such as cooking and offering companionship.

AI also brings new momentum to the development of the 6G industry. Li Ming, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, said that one of the major challenges facing 6G is the spectrum bottleneck. To address the bandwidth limitation problem, AI large models need to be introduced to achieve efficient data compression. That is, when transmitting the same amount of information, the smaller the data volume, the shorter the transmission time—thereby indirectly improving data rates.

Guo Guisheng (Tony Quek), Vice President of Singapore University of Technology and Design, said that as countries around the world are accelerating the development of the 6G industry, integrating fast-evolving AI technologies into the 6G system has become a key direction. This depends on pooling strengths from universities, research institutions, and operators, and jointly advancing technical R&D and industrial deployment. (End)

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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