In the Fields of 6G, Open RAN and Quantum Technology
U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in released a joint statement on May 21 and declared that the two countries would collaborate in the fields of 6G communications, open radio access network and quantum technology in particular. “Well aware of the importance of mobile communication security and supplier diversity, we will work together to develop transparent, efficient and open 5G and 6G networks by utilizing open RAN,” they said.
At present, the shares of Huawei and ZTE in the global 5G equipment market amount to 32.6 percent and 11 percent, respectively. On the other hand, the share of the United States in the market is inconspicuous. The emphasis on 6G is to change this situation.
In fact, collaboration has already begun in the private sector. In November last year, Samsung Electronics joined the Next G alliance of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), whose members include Verizon, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Facebook and Nokia. Huawei, in the meantime, set up a 6G R&D center in Canada in as early as August 2019.
Open RAN is another important part of the superpower rivalry. It can be defined as a standardization process to make parts of a network compatible with different equipment so that the network does not have to rely on equipment companies. The United States’ idea is to develop open RAN with software technology so the market that has been led by hardware suppliers can be expanded with more diversity.
When it comes to quantum technology, another battlefront, the National Quantum Initiative Act of the United States was enacted in 2018 for an investment of US$1.2 billion from 2019 to 2023. Meanwhile, China is excelling in quantum communication. For example, the University of Science and Technology of China recently succeeded in realizing the technology over a distance of 4,600 km. China is planning to build the world’s largest quantum research institute at an investment of 17 trillion won by next year.
“China is leading the development of quantum cryptography communication, which is capable of neutralizing existing Internet security, and this is a growing concern on the part of the United States,” said professor Kim Jae-wan at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, adding, “Its cooperation with South Korea is to address this concern and not to repeat its mistake in the 5G industry.”