Apple, Google, and LG Start Working on 6G Technology

The Next G Alliance is a collective of telecommunications and tech companies working to create and flesh out 6G — the next generation of communication technology, and according to Mobile World Live, Apple, Google, and LG are the newest big names to become members.

The Next G Alliance, a project of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), went live in October with the support of North American tech giants Nokia, Ericsson, and the like.

5G has not even remotely become mainstream yet, but that’s how fast-paced things are in the tech industry — the next big thing needs to be born before its predecessor even matures, and the Next G Alliance is bent on making North America the birthplace of 6G.

The Next G Alliance’s roster also includes Charter Communications, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Mavenir, MITRE, and VMware.

Huawei, which was one of the first companies seen working on 6G, is nowhere to be seen. This is probably because, according to Susan Miller, President and CEO of ATIS, companies like Huawei and ZTE “cannot join as founding members if they have been barred from federal contracts by agencies within the US government”

In a statement to Mobile World Live, Miller said the founding members of the Alliance will immediately work on assembling a steering group within its ranks, with working groups being formulated in “early 2021”.

Industry leader Samsung estimates that 6G could become a reality as early as 2028, but the Next G Alliance will undoubtedly try to beat that. The Alliance will meet for the first time on November 16.

Canada’s official 5G spectrum auction isn’t set to take place until 2021 and now they’re already planning for 6G. Early testing of Canadian 5G networks have revealed they are not exactly ‘game changers’ just yet.

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