US President Donald Trump’s “I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the US as soon as possible” tweet last February was bound to attract comment. It’s not very often that US Presidents make public calls for mobile communications to evolve faster.
Trump’s tub-thump continued: “6G is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard.” The use of the word ‘is’ drew the most ire from the technologically-informed Twitterati, because 6G, as a tangible technology, is not.
Commenters questioned whether the President knew what he meant by ‘6G’, when the mobile communications industry has yet to roll out the latest 5G networks and services. Also, very few of its experts had mooted the possibility of a next generation beyond 5G’s anticipated 10-15-year lifespan. This would suggest that a sixth-generation mobile service would not be anywhere close to actualisation before 2030. To pine for 6G in 2019 is plain nuts – isn’t it?
As events unfolded since...