What lessons to learn from 5G for 6G mobile infrastructure?
I have just published two new papers discussing different angles of the development of mobile infrastructure development: revisiting the 5G Huawei saga and discussing the 6G standardisation that is starting soon.
The first paper revisits the European Huawei saga, traces arguments of different perspective and draws conclusions for Europe's 6G development and rollout. The paper has appeared with IFRI.
This paper examines the evolving debate over Chinese telecommunications vendor Huawei’s role in Europe’s 5G infrastructure, focusing on Germany as a critical case study. While the European Union (EU) attempted to coordinate a collective response through its 5G Toolbox, member states diverged significantly in balancing political, economic, and technological considerations. Germany, despite its economic ties to China and status as Europe’s largest telecom market, only reached a tentative agreement in July 2024—one that appears largely symbolic. The paper argues that Germany’s compromise reflects persistent institutional divisions and a reluctance to decisively reduce reliance on Chinese technology, even in the face of geopolitical and security concerns. The analysis suggests that with 6G on the horizon, Europe must learn from its fragmented 5G response. A future 6G strategy should prioritize network diversity, enhanced encryption, and reduced dependency on high-risk suppliers to preserve European sovereignty and digital resilience. The paper concludes by urging a more unified and binding EU framework for managing the rollout of next generation wireless infrastructure.
The full paper is available here.
The second paper takes a very different angle and takes the 6G technology as its starting point. This paper that appeared with the Swedish Institute of International Affairs is co-authored by Liesbet van der Perre, a professor of electrical engineering at KU Leuven.
We start from a critical assessment on how impactful 6G will be as 5G has not nearly met the widespread expectations when standardisation started. Next, we turn to the standardisation process that has just started. In the main part of the paper, we introduce the technological features that will likely put 6G apart from the previous generation of mobile networks. Discussing the geopolitical and economic dimensions, we finally provide concrete policy recommendations to Europe.