Huawei wants to “go to the sky”: Launch 10,000 satellites to build 6G networks and declare war on Tesla’s Starlink

Huawei is expected to launch two satellites to test 6G networks in July this year.

Recently, a famous Chinese technology blogger Changan Digital Jun, known for his close relationship with Huawei, posted on Weibo that Huawei will launch two satellites together with China Aerospace and China Mobile. in July this year. If successful, the relevant results will be announced at the Huawei Developers Conference in September later.

This move quickly caught the attention of the Chinese tech community, because it contained a special meaning about core technology. According to the country’s media, the competition in the 5G network market is basically over, so Huawei, which is leading in the fields related to 5G technology, certainly can’t miss 6G. And because 6G communication technology can be more dependent on satellites, participating in the satellite launch this time shows that Huawei has achieved a lot in 6G and is about to enter the verification phase.

Ma Jihua, a senior technology analyst in Beijing, said that Huawei’s move to launch satellites is inevitable as the technology company is promoting the development of 6G networks. According to forecast, 6G network will be 50 times faster than current 5G network. To do that, it will need to use a satellite network for transmission, instead of ground-based base stations like 5G.

Previously, Xu Zhijun, Huawei’s rotating chairman, also mentioned 6G at the “Huawei Global Analyst Conference” in early April. He said: “At the moment, we don’t know what 6G is, but Huawei has increased research and development on related technologies and has done some basic research around 6G.”

Even Xu Zhijun claims that Huawei is already leading the world in 5G, so will also lead the world in 6G. He stated that Huawei will release a 6G white paper in the near future, to let “all walks of life know what 6G is”.

In fact, 6G technology is being researched by many countries. However, a full exploration of the technology has yet to materialize and a complete specification has not yet been released. However, most countries agree that terahertz radiation will be a breakthrough in 6G technology.

China is also conducting research on terahertz. In November last year, the country launched the world’s first 6G test satellite and it successfully entered the predetermined orbit. They then use the satellite to establish a transceiver link on their platform and perform terahertz transmission testing. This is the world’s first technical verification of terahertz communication in a cosmic application scenario.

Because Huawei believes that 6G should have higher speeds and higher frequencies in terms of communication, it has even suggested that 6G should be extended to three directions: sea, land and space, or even even underwater. The Chinese technology group even came up with the concept of using Wi-Fi and base stations to realize wireless charging in applications of the 6G era.

But 6G networks involve terahertz and terahertz need to launch satellites. As a result, Huawei even plans to launch more than 10,000 satellites in low orbit to achieve global coverage, at an estimated cost of about $9.9 billion.

In the US, the country that has lost its leadership in 5G technology, is looking to regain its footing and form the so-called Next G Alliance, or 6G Alliance. This organization has a very outstanding lineup, with members including Microsoft, Qualcomm, Apple, Google, Nokia and a series of giants in the telecommunications field, aiming to develop 6G ahead of its time and a once again firmly grasping the dominant position of global media. And this so-called 6G alliance does not allow leading Chinese 5G companies such as Huawei and ZTE to join.

Regarding the space satellite network, the US is leading with the main representative being the Starlink project by SpaceX, the commercial aerospace company founded by Elon Musk. This project is considered to be able to replace or even surpass 5G technology. Starlink’s ambition is to build a low-cost space communications system with worldwide coverage through approximately 12,000 satellites.

SpaceX currently operates more than 1,300 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, and this number is growing by about 120 per month. However, according to some related media reports, 3% of these satellites have stopped working due to malfunction and are rated as invalid satellites, which will become space junk surrounding the Earth. soil.

According to Nham Chinh Phi, president of Huawei, 6G research is synchronized with 5G, and Huawei has long joined the 6G battlefield. He asserted that what Elon Musk can do, Huawei can do, and can even do better. However, regarding Huawei’s specific 6G development progress, we can still wait and see.

In another move, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed to invest $4.5 billion in developing 6G, the next-generation mobile network technology.