What is 6G?
6G will not only build on existing technologies, it will radically transform what a network can do. We believe it will liberate human potential, inclusively and sustainably.
WatchWhy do we need 6G?
6G will fuse the human, physical and digital worlds. This will deliver a network that takes us from connectivity to togetherness, information to knowledge and effectiveness to purpose. 6G will help us redefine how we live, work and take care of our planet.
6G explained
6G research and vision
Explore the latest Nokia Bell Labs innovations and research that will shape the future 6G landscape.
6G technologies
Nokia Bell Labs has identified six key technologies that will be vital components of future 6G networks
AI native air interface
AI/ML will provide a new foundation for air interface design and optimization, enabling self-optimizing transmitters and receivers, cognitive spectrum use and context awareness.
Network as a sensor
The 6G network is expected to become a source of situational information, gathering signals bouncing off objects to determine their type, shape, relative location, velocity and perhaps even material properties.
6G speed and extreme connectivity
URLLC service began with 5G but it will be refined and improved in 6G to meet more extreme connectivity requirements – including sub-millisecond latency – and provide much higher levels of network reliability.
6G spectrum
The use of spectrum will expand to higher bands beyond what 5G requires. In addition, repurposing existing mobile communication spectrum will be essential.
Cognitive, automated & specialized architectures
Different industry verticals will require new more flexible and increasingly specialized architectures. As the core becomes more distributed and the RAN more centralized, the 6G network will reduce costs by converging functions.
Security and trust
A variety of new signal processing techniques and physical-layer security mechanisms are emerging to address security in a mixed-reality world, which will become an integral part of the 6G network.
6G white papers
Communications for the 6G era
In this paper, Preben Mogensen and Harish Viswanathan share a vision for a 6G future as well as a practical approach to achieving that future. They explain how we can connect the physical, human and digital worlds by creating a real-time twin of the world we live in.
Read the white paper
Explore our 6G research in detail
Extreme communications in 6G: Vision and challenges for ‘in-X' subnetworks
Extreme massive MIMO for macro cell capacity boost in 5G-Advanced and 6G
Security and trust in the 6G era
Joint design of communication and sensing for beyond 5G and 6G systems
Toward a 6G AI native air interface
Integrated solutions for deployment of 6G mobile networks
Enabling 6G technologies
As the physical, human and digital worlds become increasingly linked to the 6G network, 6G will encompass a range of technologies beyond networking.
Introducing homo augmentus
Discover how 6G will help liberate human potential by unlocking our innate cognitive and physical capabilities.
The brain-machine interface and the future of human augmentation
What do you know of the Brain Machine Interface (BMI)? Enter the fascinating world and work of Miguel Nicolesis
Can novel optical sensors detect the next pandemic?
What if we had the ability to continuously and precisely monitor biophysical changes as they occur and could detect the presence of an infectious pathogen before physical symptoms manifest?
We are leading the 6G ecosystem
Hexa-X
Explore Nokia’s crucial role in Hexa-X, and how they are collaborating to define the European blueprint for 6G development.
Next G Alliance
Nokia is a founding member of the Next G Alliance, leveraging its strong role in deploying 5G in the US, to shape the direction of 6G.
NSF RINGS
The Resilient and Intelligent Next-Generation Systems program, or RINGS, is an initiative led by the US National Science Foundation that focuses on the development of next-generation technologies.
On a journey to 6G
We expect 6G to launch commercially by 2030. Phase 1 of standardization will likely start in 2025 as part of 3GPP Release 20. Meanwhile 5G will be enhanced by 5G-Advanced, which will be a key focus for 3GPP in Release 18 onward. 5G-Advanced will power commercial networks starting in 2025, providing new 5G features and boosting 5G capabilities before 6G arrives at the end of the decade.
