‘6G Society’ will promote communication and interchange between the satellite communication field and the 6G mobile communication field
South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) recently announced the launch of the so-called ‘6G Society’, a new initiative aimed at strengthening technological exchange and cooperation between 6G mobile communications field and satellite communications field, Korean press reported.
The government noted that ‘6G Society’ was planned to promote communication and interchange between the satellite communication field and the 6G mobile communication field, which are gaining importance as one of the essential 6G technologies.
The ministry also highlighted that the organic union of terrestrial mobile communication and satellite communication technology in the 6G era will be key in order to implement hyperspace communication services connecting land, sea and air. The ministry also stated that it aims to develop 6G wireless communication with hyper-connectivity, ultra-low latency and hyper-space with continuous cooperation between both fields from the technology development stage.
The government also explained that the ‘6G Society’ will act as a bilateral consultation body between the 6G Forum, which currently focuses on the 6G mobile communications field and the Satellite Communications Forum.
With this new body, the ministry plans to share standardization trends in the mobile communication and satellite communication fields and discuss technology development and measures to connect relevant technologies.
Ryu Jae Myeong, deputy minister of Network Policy Bureau at the MSIT, said: “It is very important to bring together industry, academia, research institutes and government to be a first-mover to set the 6G standards and secure technology for rapid commercialization. We will continue to provide a forum for cooperation between the terrestrial mobile communications and the satellite communications fields so that we can attentively listen to experts’ opinions and reflect them in policies,” he added.
In November 2023, MSIT unveiled its KRW440.4 billion ($324.5 million) research and development plan for future 6G networks.
The ministry noted that the plan includes developing technologies related to wireless communications, mobile core networks, 6G wired networks, 6G systems and the standardization of 6G.
The ministry also said it will work to standardize the locally-developed 6G technologies in line with the international standardization requirements, which are expected to start being established as early as next year, the report stated.
South Korea’s 6G plan also involves the development of technologies for the upper-mid band, which covers the frequency range of 7 GHz to 24 GHz, to advance the 5G network service.
The ministry also aims to showcase the intermediate outcome of its 6G network development in 2026 to play a leading role in setting the international standards for the next-generation network service, the report added.
Finnish vendor Nokia recently highlighted that it is seeing South Korea as a likely candidate to commercialize 6G wireless networks and related services by 2029.
Nokia also stated that its future 6G plans in South Korea involve collaborating with major mobile carriers in the country. The vendor has already partnered with all three of Korea’s leading telecom companies — KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus — with a focus on research towards future 6G systems, according to the report.
