5G vs 6G: What's the difference?

India's fifth-generation or 5G network rollout has barely begun but the country is already talking about its successor — the sixth-generation or 6G technology. Last month, the government of India unveiled a Bharat “6G” project with the aim of launching this technology by 2030. Under the 6G initiative, India will identify priority areas for research by involving stakeholders including industry, academia and service providers.  

While the bandwidth and latency of 6G networks is expected to be significantly higher than that of 5G networks due to their ability to operate at higher frequencies, let us take a look at four marked differences between the two ‘G’s. 

Spectrum usage much higher in 6G  

Both 5G and 6G use wireless spectrum of higher range for data transmission faster than its predecessors, namely 4G, 3G, and 2G networks. However, between the two, 5G is allocated for low band and high band frequencies — sub-6 GHz (Gigahertz) and above 24.25 GHz respectively. 6G on the other hand is operative at the frequency range 95 GHz to 3 THz (Terahertz), according to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), a body that develops technical and operational standards and solutions for the ICT industry. The higher frequencies of 6G networks allow for much faster throughput than 5G networks. This means that 6G will be able to transmit more data in less time, allowing for a smoother user experience. It also allows more users to access the network at once, as well as more data-intensive applications such as streaming video and virtual reality.  

6G is 100 times faster than 5G   

5G and 6G technology both offer faster speeds than 4G LTE, but 6G takes this to a whole new level. According to Mahyar Shirvanimoghaddam, a wireless communications expert at the University of Sydney, “6G speeds could reach 1 terabyte (TB) per second — that’s 8,000 times faster than 5G.” This means, with this speed, users can download 142 hours of Netflix’s high-quality video every second with the 6G network. With its utilisation of higher frequency bands on the wireless spectrum, 6G is predicted to provide maximum speeds up to 100 times faster than 5G and offers multiple use cases for a variety of industrial sectors to enhance their efficiency. This will enable instantaneous connections between any digital devices, from smartphones to wearables and other IoT devices, creating a completely connected ecosystem. In addition, 6G’s enhanced speed will facilitate smart factories, smart home appliances, robotics, and connected cars that rely on low-latency connections for optimal performance. Besides, 6G can be used in healthcare for remote surgery and telehealth applications, as well as drive digitisation initiatives in sectors such as finance and retail. All this would mean, users can expect an even more seamless experience when using these devices due to its ability to handle more data at once without compromising on the speed or reliability.  

6G has a much lower latency  

Latency refers to the time it takes for a packet of information or signal to travel from one point to another over a network connection in which the time is measured in milliseconds. Both 5G and 6G networks offer lower latency than 4G LTE, but 6G offers an even shorter response time due to its utilisation of higher frequency bands on the wireless spectrum, allowing quicker transmission times between devices over a network connection. For example, 4G networks had a latency of about 50 milliseconds (ms) whereas 5G networks had ten times lower latency than 4G around 5ms. With 6G internet, latency will slip down to range 1millisecond to 1microsecond, lowering latency to five times than that of fifth-generation network making massive data transmissions possible in less than a second.  

6G more exposed to Security threats  

Both 5G and 6G networks pose significant security threats, but in case of 6G networks the security risks are even greater. This is because 6G networks will have a larger attack surface than 5G networks, as well as more complex use cases that could introduce new security vulnerabilities. Also, the increased reliance on open-source software for 6G networks could create additional security risks, said Amir Gomroki, a long time Ericsson executive who heads 5G in North America in a blog published in September 2022.  

“In 6G, privacy will be at the centre of engineering design work,” Gomroki noted as lightweight 6G-enabled XR devices run the risk of capturing, manipulating, and transmitting personal data such as the location and/or faces of non-consenting by-standers. Further, social robots such as home companions or airport information receptionists could face the same challenge since they collect data about people they interact with.  

Wrapping up  

While there are many differences between 5G and 6G networks, 6G further has the ability to overcome the technical limits of 5G and bring greater advances in many aspects of connectivity. More importantly, 6G networks are anticipated to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges, bringing trustworthiness to systems, sustainability and efficiency through mobile technology, accelerated automation for simplifying and improving people’s lives, and limitless connectivity for meeting next-generation communication needs.  Nonetheless, the Next G Alliance, an initiative to advance wireless technology in the US, believes that 6G and 5G will coexist for a long period of time, as future 6G systems will be an evolution of 5G and not a replacement technology.