The work has started on Millimeter waves and Terahertz radiation for 6G with data speeds of 100's of gigabits per second. So what you say?
6G will likely have a range of about 1 kilometer from any antenna to any antenna and the speed of the connection will likely be best at 100-200 meters.
This means that in high demographic areas or along major transportation corridors antenna will likely be every 200 meters or so. With fiber to every antenna. Of course that means power every 200 meters or so to run the antennas and likely utility poles to put the antennas on.
This means more rural areas will likely not have coverage. Because it will mean recycling 4G and 5G frequencies, that as 6G rollout more people will lose coverage than gain faster coverage.
The infrastructure costs of 6G means that likely the major carriers will not own the infrastructure, but write agreements with infrastructure owners, making most structures multi-carrier. Who then builds and maintains the infrastructure is up in the air. Will electric utilities be allowed to? Will poles have to be built to a specific standard for height and loads by Federal law or regulation to support 6G?
6G may be in early days, but utilities need to understand and voice their preferences early in this technology cycle to avoid the 6GHz issues that exist in 5G, and get clarity on the new requirements that 6G may impose on them.
Doug Houseman
Expert Member
Top Contributor
Thu, Oct 27