Japanese telecom giant NTT and its DoCoMo mobile division will work with equipment vendors Nokia, NEC, and Fujitsu to develop 6G technologies that tap into advanced networking and transmission capabilities. The work is targeted at networks that are expected to roll out beginning around 2030.

The “experimental trials” are focused on a broad scope of spectrum bands, including work at bands above 100 GHz, or what are termed sub-terahertz (THz). These bands are currently open to large swaths of unencumbered spectrum that is needed to support higher network speeds.

Specific vendor work has Nokia providing artificial intelligence (AI)-native air interfaces and sub-THz access; NEC working on distributed MIMO transmission for mid- to sub-THz bands and orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing transmissions; and Fujitsu working on distributed MIMO transmission for the 100 GHz to 300 GHz bands.

There is also work on using AI to help with wireless transmission methods and new optical networking technologies. This will include tapping into NTT’s Innovation Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) project that was started in late 2019. This work includes Intel and Sony, with Microsoft also part of past efforts, and is focused on all-photonics networks, digital twin computing, and a cognitive foundation to optimize networking functions.

Indoor trials are set to begin over the next 12 months, with outdoor trials set to begin starting in the second quarter of 2023.

NTT DoCoMo said the work is set to accelerate “the global standardization and commercialization of 6G.” CTO and EVO Naoki Tani added in a statement that the “6G studies are progressing two or three years ahead of that of 5G.”

This accelerated timing has started to gain momentum with new vendor entrants into the telecom ecosystem. During a recent ConnectX event, Ronny Haraldsvik, CMO and SVP for business development at Cohere Technologies, stated that technological advances will accelerate than traditional 10-year timeline for mobile technology evolutions.

“That’s the way it used to be,” Haraldsvik said. “We don’t think it’s sustainable.”

Haraldsvik cited work already started on the standards process that is being propelled by new entrants into the telecommunications space.

“There are new ecosystem players … the Azures, the Amazons, the VMwares of the world that frankly have the ability here in the next couple of years to actually set up and configure networks in a matter of days and weeks,” Haraldsvik said.

This notion is already playing out with operators running their 5G networks as containerized functions on top of large cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

“Will the first iteration of 6G be all standardized and 3GPP endorsed? Probably not,” Haraldsvik added. “But will it be endorsed by big cloud players and some forward thinking, innovative companies and operators like Rakuten and maybe Dish? We think so.”