China is accelerating the development of 6G industry, as part of its efforts to realize its goal of commercializing 6G, the next-generation wireless technology, by 2030.
This year's government work report for the first time clearly proposes the development of future industries such as 6G, marking that 6G has officially become an important part of the national strategies.
6G, the sixth generation of mobile communication technology, aims to provide faster internet speed, lower latency, higher reliability, and integrated communications, perception, computing, AI and big data capabilities, to support more application scenarios.
"In terms of bandwidth and speed, 6G is expected to use higher spectrum bands such as terahertz waves to achieve higher bandwidth and faster transmission speed. In terms of latency, 6G aims to achieve microsecond or even lower latency. In terms of connection density, 6G will support more devices to connect at the same time, which will help support ultra-large-scale connections," said Hu Xiaopeng, head of the communication industry research center at CCID Consulting.
When 6G becomes widely accessible, base stations will support both communication and perception and improve communication performance, which will give rise to new services.
"In the future, we will embrace the 6G revolution which is marked by the intelligent connection of everything. 6G will break through the limitations of traditional communications and give the network 'super-dimensional perception capabilities'. It will facilitate the construction of an integrated network of air, land, and sea, and realize the intelligent connection of everything with the deep integration of communication network, perception network, computing power and intelligence," said Hu.
In the 6G era, on-ground mobile communications will integrate with high, medium and low-orbit satellites, enabling anyone to access telecom services anywhere, at any time.
"Whether users are in the desert, in the ocean, or in emergency situations, they can connect to our network. Compared with the current satellite network, it can provide higher speeds and corresponding high-quality services such as high-definition videos," said Ding Haiyu, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute.
According to a guideline issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and two other authorities on developing the national data infrastructure, efforts will be made to promote the research and development and innovation of 6G network technology and deploy a space-ground integrated network.
"This year, the standardization work of 6G will be fully launched, and more in-depth research on 6G key technologies and future related scenarios will be promoted," said Ding.
China accelerates 6G network development
China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.
The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.
Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.
Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.
"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.
They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.
"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.
Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts
