As we all know, in terms of communication technology, China completely followed foreign countries during the 1G and 2G eras, without any foundation.

But when it came to 3G, the independently developed TD-SCDMA technology became one of the international communication standards, and behind this technology, China officially declared the rise of its communication technology.

Later, during the 4G and 5G eras, China's communication technology has already led the world, especially in 5G, where China ranks first in 5G patents globally.

As shown in the figure above, among the top 10 5G patent holders globally, China accounts for 5 of them, with a combined share of over 35%, which means that more than one-third of 5G patents are owned by Chinese enterprises.

In terms of 5G communication equipment, Huawei and ZTE have captured nearly 50% of the global market share, which sufficiently demonstrates how powerful China is in communication technology. Countries and regions that once led in communication technology, such as the United States and Europe, are indeed no match for China.

The same is true for 6G. Recently, an institution released the proportion of 6G patents by country, showing that China accounts for 40.3% of 6G patents, followed by the United States at 35.2%, Japan at 9.9%, Europe at 8.9%, and South Korea at 4.2%.

It is clear that China has once again become the global leader in 6G patent applications, which is not difficult to understand as 6G is based on and an upgrade of 5G technology. Since China leads the world in 5G, it will surely take the lead in 6G as well.

And recently, there has been good news in 6G testing and validation. According to media reports, the world's first 6G outdoor test network integrating communication and intelligence, built by Academician Zhang Ping and his team from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, has been officially released.

This is also the world's first 6G outdoor test network integrating communication and intelligence. More importantly, this test network has verified the feasibility of using 4G and 5G links for 6G transmission capabilities.

Many people may not fully understand this meaning. We know that 4G uses radio frequency bands around 2000MHz, while 5G uses 6000MHz, as well as millimeter waves, which are designated domestically as 24.25GHz-52.6GHz, but are not currently in use.

It was previously widely believed that 6G must use high-frequency millimeter waves above 100GHz, as only such high frequencies can transmit 6G signals, achieving higher speeds, wider bandwidths, and lower latencies.

Domestic 5G frequency bands

However, our current 6G test network, based on 4G and 5G links for transmission, has verified the feasibility of using 4G and 5G links for 6G transmission capabilities, meaning that it is not necessary to use millimeter waves above 100GHz.

It is important to note that the higher the frequency, the shorter the transmission distance and the greater the attenuation, with even a single leaf being able to block the signal. Therefore, the ability to transmit 6G using low-frequency radio waves is a very significant achievement.