6G Race Intensifies; India Hosts 2025 Symposium

A broad, competitive effort by companies, startups and governments is reshaping the internet through Web3, AR/VR/metaverse experiments, satellite backhaul and expanded 5G coverage. In India, 5G is driving innovation across manufacturing, healthcare and agriculture, and the government will host the 2nd International Bharat 6G Symposium alongside India Mobile Congress 2025 to spur research and collaboration. 5G-Advanced is enabling AI-native operations, sector-specific private networks and real-time automation and is being positioned as the technical bridge to 6G. Some vendors are targeting commercial 6G specifications around 2027–28, but laboratory milestones — including a reported 6G chip operating above 100 GHz with lab speeds up to 100 Gbps — and expert warnings suggest widespread field deployments may not arrive until closer to 2030. The 6G race centers on spectrum harmonization, patenting, sustainable green-by-design architectures and equitable access to realize promised use cases such as seamless AR education, precision agriculture, AI-powered healthcare and smart cities.