The US and India have announced their collaboration on 5G and 6G research and partnership on Open RAN development. Both made their strategic partnership public on the recently held G20 summit which brought the world’s 20 largest economies to India.
The US wants to contest China’s rise in technologies, especially 5G and 6G. It has already announced joint work on 6G with Japan on 6G research and technologies. Now, it has consented to a partnership with India as it seeks strategies to make a leap in next-generation technologies while curbing China at the same time.
Regarding the matter, the White House, “further collaboration includes establishing two joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies.” Both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work on Open RAN field trials, rollouts, and scaled deployments.
India and US tech cooperation is growing in recent times with the former eyeing to sell its Made-in-India 5G radio gear in the US. The cooperation between 6G and ORAN will further deepen their ties and might help curb China’s technology ambitions, which is both states’ latent motif.
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US, India to cooperate on 6G technology
It has also been revealed that the public-private cooperation between gear makers and operators will be led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the US’s Next G Alliance led by ATIS.
“The work will encompass aligning research and development priorities that support a common 6G vision and creating secure and trusted telecommunications as well as resilient supply chains,” a joint statement released by the Bharat 6G Alliance and the Next G Alliance reads.
“Defining what it takes to deliver the next generation of wireless leadership is an audacious undertaking,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “We see the agreement with Bharat 6G Alliance as a critical link in advancing both organizations’ objectives in developing the global 6G mobile wireless ecosystem,” she added.
N. G. Subramaniam, Chair of the Indian initiative, was equally delighted by the announced partnership with the US.
“India has a vision for the empowerment of the society at large with sustainability as its core, and 6G will further enhance the quality of life on this planet. This would entail focused, open, and collaborative research amongst nations, dedicating resources to contribute to national, regional, and global standards and developing products meeting those exacting standards. The MoU with Next G Alliance is an important step in this direction,” he said.
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The 6G Partnership Race
The US has agreed to cooperate with several countries for 6G developments. In July, US President Joe Biden committed to enlarge cooperation with Finland Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.
Additionally, back in June, the US and the European Union announced “accelerated cooperation to develop a common vision and industry roadmap on research and development for 6G wireless communication systems.”
5G is currently the most advanced network however, remains short of commercial rollouts and applications with some states still running trials. However, many developers, gear makers, and states have already been pitching for the advent of 6G. Many including South Korea claim that 6G would be commercially available as early as 2028. So, the US having accelerated its 5G deployments across the country wants to take an early leap with the next-gen mobile communication technology.