The working group's main goal is to develop a national 6G roadmap for Finland.
The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has confirmed that a specific working group has begun work on advancing 6G communications technology.
The ministry said in a statement that the working group's main goal is to develop a national 6G roadmap for Finland and promote cooperation and information exchange in the field of next-generation wireless network technologies.
The Finnish government added that the working group includes representatives from national administrations as well as research and business sectors.
The Working Group will develop Finland's position and objectives regarding the radio frequencies needed for next-generation mobile communications and will contribute to ensuring network security in coordination with the work of Finland's National Cyber Security Advisory Board.
The 6G Working Group also includes the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Labour and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Cyber Security Agency, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, the Finnish Transport Agency, Business Finland, VTT, Nokia, FiCom, DNA, Telia, Elisa, Technology Industries, Aalto University, University of Helsinki, University of Oulu and University of Tampere.
The working group's term will last until May 31, 2025.
In February, Finland joined a US-led multilateral statement of principles for 6G development.
The Declaration agrees on common principles to guide the development of 6G nationally and internationally.
In addition to Finland, the joint statement was signed by Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, South Korea, France, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the United States.
“Finland is one of the world's leading countries in the development of mobile network technologies. We are pleased to be strengthening our international partnerships with like-minded countries. This is a good extension of the Statement on 6G Cooperation signed by Finland and the United States last summer,” said Finland's Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne.
In November 2023, ITU-R published the IMT-2030 Framework Recommendation, outlining the future and general direction of 6G. ITU-R aims to establish technical performance requirements for 6G technology by 2026. These requirements will form the basis for candidate 6G technologies that will be developed by standardization organizations such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and later submitted to ITU-R. ITU-R will then evaluate and adjust the submissions, and the technical specifications for 6G are expected to be completed by 2030.
