Trump administration wants 6G phones even before 6G comes into existence

Commercial 5G was first introduced for users in the US roughly seven years ago. The technology has since matured enough and is estimated to be available to 99% of Americans. Alongside this feat, carriers in the US are now starting to implement the next generation of wireless networks, 5G-Advanced or 5.5G, which is based on 3GPP’s Release 18 recommendations. While that is still in its early phase, the Trump administration reportedly wants 6G to be ready for deployment soon.

Nate Tibbit, Qualcomm’s senior VP of global government affairs and public affairs, was speaking at a 6G-centric industry event hosted by Politico (via Fierce Network) when they revealed the US government’s expectations for the rollout of the next generation network. Tibbit said the US government is “keeping its eye” on the timeline for 6G’s rollout and is “very interested in accelerating the timeline.”

Tibbit further commented that the Trump administration insists that 6G be ready by 2029 and has asked Qualcomm to prepare at least three commercial devices for the 2028 Summer Olympics, set to take place in Los Angeles, California. To realize those developments, companies require the infrastructure and the regulatory foundation to set the 6G wheels into motion.

While that sounds promising, getting three commercial devices ready over the next two years could be a monumental challenge, especially if 6G’s foundation isn’t ready in time. The 6G standard is expected to be first brought to the table with 3GPP’s Release 21 sometime in 2028, but finalization could gobble several additional months.

While 5G-Advanced focuses on a complete transition to standalone (SA) and on leveraging higher-frequency bands for faster (10Gbps) downlink speeds, 6G is expected to reduce latency to single-digit milliseconds and deliver significantly faster download speeds in the order of terabits per second (Tbps), which is roughly 1000Gbps. We can also expect heavy reliance on AI.

Meanwhile, the industry is still split on whether 6G networks would utilize the same 5G-Advanced core network, with Qualcomm insisting on a new, lighter infrastructure for lower latency. While it’s all in theory, we wait to see the actual implementation and whether Qualcomm can help attain Trump’s vision for the Olympics. We just hope it doesn’t follow the same rollout pace as the phantom Trump Phone.