Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and South Korea’s SK Telecom (SKT) are partnering to develop new 5G and 6G cellular technologies and deployment plans taking advantage of open and virtualized radio access network (RAN) technology. The move comes as different continents begin to posture their next-generation cellular technology plans.

The Asia-Pacific telecom giants will target 5G standalone (SA), millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum use, open radio access network (RAN) and virtualized RAN (vRAN), and ways to increase the energy efficiency of their networks. These developments are seen as vital to advancing initial 5G deployments to take greater advantage of the technology’s inherit capabilities and support revenue generating edge use cases.

Both operators were some of the first in the world to launch 5G networks.

SK Telecom launched its commercial network in late 2018, which was quickly followed by work on a 5G SA core. NTT DoCoMo commenced commercial 5G services in early 2020, and included open RAN-compliant equipment provided by Fujitsu, NEC, and Nokia.

This 5G work will also lead into the two telecom giants aligning their plans and timelines for 6G technology. This will include joint research and development, standardization, and joint testing to begin as early as next year.

This 6G work will look to align with 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.

6G remains a nebulous concept as standards work has yet to officially begin. However, many expect the technology will include increased reliance on distributed cloud and edge computing resources, and a further push up the spectrum scale.

SKT’s 6G efforts started more than three years ago when it signed agreements with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung Electronics for joint R&D. This included ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC); enhanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology; differentiated 28 GHz mmWave technology; and 5G New Radio (NR) SA networks.

NTT DoCoMo earlier this year said it would 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 combination comes as European-based operators have been bolstering their 6G plans.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom (DT) has taken a leadership position in that country’s 6G projects established by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This includes the 6G-TakeOff project that is looking to develop a uniform 6G architecture for communications networks using traditional cell sites, flying infrastructure platforms, and satellites.

European-based vendors are also pushing that continents 6G efforts, with Ericsson and Nokia both recently announcing research and development centers in the region. Ericsson’s is through a 10-year, multi-million-dollar investment in the United Kingdom, and Nokia’s as part of an R&D center in Portugal.