Planning for sustainable 6G

It’s almost exactly five years since PolicyTracker reported on the “world’s first 6G summit”.

It was organised by 6G Flagship, which describes itself as “the world’s first 6G research programme”. 6G Flagship operates under the auspices of the University of Oulu, which provides the funding for the research, along with the Research Council of Finland.

Much has changed since then (although not the chorus of voices questioning why we insist on talking about 6G when we haven’t even figured out what 5G is for yet).

One big change is the sharp increase in awareness that policymakers need to work harder to promote sustainable access to spectrum.

Marja Matinmikko-Blue, 6G Flagship’s Director of Sustainability and Regulation, has published a paper on sustainable spectrum management for 6G.

It proposed seven key principles for sustainable spectrum management. They include attaching sustainability obligations to exclusive spectrum licences, defining proper metrics and measurement methods for sustainable spectrum access and incorporating proper stakeholder management into spectrum decision-making.

In a new research note, we analyse Marja’s principles and ask various experts—Gérard Pogorel, William Webb and Thomas Hazlett—what they make of them.

This research note is now available to Spectrum Research Service subscribers.

• Is a new spectrum management approach needed for 6G?