Sparring Partners | What do we need 6G for?

We do not know when, we do not know what exactly will deliver, but we know that 6G is coming, and it has gathered much support in the wireless ecosystem. Just as with its predecessor – 5G – it is impossible to evade the topic.

Ern Worthman, Worthman & Associates, Pasquale Cataldi, Innovation Lambda and I decided to face the inevitable and spar about the role of 6G in the evolution of technology, use cases and business models, and about how it compares to alternative wireless technologies.

In this Sparring Partners, we had the usual unscripted conversation, but these are some of the topics we tackled

• Will 6G be better than 5G? How different will it be from 5G?
• Will we need the improved performance of 6G? And if so, when?
• Will 6G increase costs? Will it be more power efficient?
• Is 6G the best technology in high-frequency (mmWave and above) bands?
• Do we need to reserve spectrum for 6G? Should it be licensed or shared spectrum?
• Will there be another race to 6G among countries, similar to the one we had with 5G? And will we see the same hype cycle?