UK ‘MUST SHAPE 6G TO COUNTER CHINA’

BRITAIN should be at the forefront of designing 6G technology to counter China and avoid the mistakes made with Huawei, Ministers believe.

It comes after the National Security Council warned last year that the Chinese company was a ‘high risk vendor’, leading Boris Johnson to ban telecoms operators from buying its 5G equipment and ordering that its existing parts be stripped from the UK’s network within seven years.

Ministers are now encouraging British researchers to generate ideas to shape 6G, which is expected to bring download speeds of 1TB per second – equivalent to downloading 70 films a second.

One source said: ‘6G is an opportunity for us to design our own standards. The mistake with 5G was China was too influential in determining what 5G would be. This is an opportunity not to repeat our mistakes.’

In a talk to industry leaders last month, digital infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said the UK must be ‘at the helm of 6G development’. ‘If we act now and get our research focus right then we can shape the future of wireless technologies,’ he added.

Mr Warman said this was needed to ensure the UK’s ‘critical national infrastructure is secure and resilient’. A Government insider added: ‘6G is a big opportunity to get it right from the start. At the core of that is being there to set up the technology.’