6G, unlike recent Gs, might actually excite consumers

Feeling excited about the prospect of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) or centimeter wave spectrum? If the answer is no, you are undoubtedly among the citizen masses underwhelmed by what mobile telecom technology has had to offer. Yet RIS and higher frequency bands are seen by mobile standards groups as two of three breakthroughs that would justify the application of the 6G label in future, according to Interdigital, a US research company active in standards development. 

Despite its various problems, telecom looks guiltier than most industries of thinking people should care about the underlying technology rather than its usefulness. Nobody who doesn't build networks for a living really knows what differentiates 5G from 4G. It's a bit faster, the more informed punter would probably say. But this hardly qualifies as radical change. You don't hear sociologists highlighting obvious factors like age, health and average speed over 100 meters in early 2024 as the main differences between Millennials and Generation X. Nor do energy companies go on about the latest innovations in gas-pipe technology when pitching to consumers, or train companies talk up the brilliance of the newest tracks. 

But 5G advertisements were everywhere when the technology was first launched. "5G. It's got to be EE," proclaimed one London billboard promoting the UK telecom incumbent. "London's best 5G," said another from rival Vodafone. Even the train companies joined in. "Brighter journeys with 4G and 5G on the Central Line," said an advertisement on the London Underground.  

Ask industry people about 5G and they will probably go on about its more cloud-native functionality allowing you to build a distributed core and cut latency to support new enterprise applications and improve telco efficiency. All of which, of course, is utter gibberish to the average consumer. Besides, if the main commercial attractions are a) services for business customers and b) cost savings for the telco provider, then why is 5G being marketed to consumers at all? 

Probably in desperation, because telcos don't have much else to offer. And accepting that means admitting they are utilities, no different from energy or water providers, rather than much sexier technology companies. Welcome to a world of advertising based on such innovations as price and levels of customer service, where differentiation involves bundling a cuddly toy or drinks voucher into your tariff. 

There are two Gs, not five 

If the Gs were about service breakthroughs (as they should be if pitched to consumers), rather than increasingly unimpressive technical improvements, there would be only two. The first happened around the time Michael Douglas was holding a brick-sized device to his ear on a beach in Wall Street, instead of speaking through a landline phone inside an office or house. The second came when someone properly managed to put the Internet on a mobile phone. This makes 1G and 3G the important ones and means 2G (analog to digital), 4G (better 3G) and 5G (better 4G and a network plumbing overhaul) should hardly matter outside industry circles. 

And sadly, for the G marketeers, RIS and centimeter wave spectrum fall into the same category as 2G, 4G and 5G. The first appears to be very advanced from a technological perspective, and for that reason is not as much of a priority as other 6G features, but it would essentially allow operators to bend signals around corners using mirrors and other passive (not electronic) equipment. It is beamforming, the science of guiding signals to specific users, on steroids. The second opens frequencies roughly between 7GHz and 15GHz for mobile telecom use. As with even higher millimeter wave spectrum, it is great for connection speeds but not so good at coverage, especially when signals encounter walls or other obstacles. 

But the third 6G breakthrough may hold the potential to be a big thing. It would effectively give a "sensing" capability to basestations and user devices, enabling radio signals to feel out the size and shape of any unconnected object, even figure out what it's made of. There are sinister military applications. But sensing could also be used in healthcare to ping medical staff if someone vulnerable (the object, in this case) falls and is inert in their home. It could alert drivers to the location of an available parking space. Huawei, MediaTek and Qualcomm are already involved in early work on the chips that would be needed for integrated sensing and communications, said Alain Mourad, the head of Interdigital's European wireless lab. 

At a press dinner in London this week, he used a beer bottle as an example of an unconnected object, albeit one that seems hardly worth investigating. Yet perhaps a 6G radio signal could dip its invisible fingers into an almost-empty pint glass and notify the barman of the need for a refill. To this occasional session drinker, it sounds a lot more exciting than a cloud-native core.