Nokia has announced it will lead 6G-ANNA, a government-funded 6G lighthouse project in Germany.
Part of the larger “6G Platform German” national initiative, which has a total volume of €38.4mn with a duration of three years, 6G-ANNA is backed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung).
Laying the foundations for 6G
Nokia will collaborate with the 29 partners, and work closely with the consortium, which includes partners from industry, subject matter experts, start-ups, research institutes and distinguished universities in Germany.
The Finish telecommunications provider will focus on designing an end-to-end 6G architecture and work with other project partners on three key technology areas: 6G access, network of networks, and automation and simplification. Selected topics such as sub-networks, XR, and real-time digital twinning will be implemented and presented as proof of concepts.
Peter Merz, Head of Nokia Standards, said: “We are honoured to lead 6G-ANNA, the most important government-funded 6G lighthouse project in Germany. While the first 6G networks are not expected to be commercially available before 2030, we are already laying the technical foundation with 5G-Advanced, as well as long-term innovation that will drive 6G developments.”
In addition, Nokia will interact with the German ecosystem, including four academic “6G Hubs” with more than 60 university chairs. Beyond Germany, 6G-ANNA aims to interact with other major 6G flagship projects in Europe and the U.S. to shape global 6G standards.
Transforming what a network can do
Nokia believes 6G will not only build on existing technologies and systems, but also expand and transform what a network can do.
Beyond 6G-ANNA, Nokia is engaging with industry peers, customers, academia and research institutions globally, spanning the US, Europe and APAC to form a common view and direction for 6G.
Nokia Bell Labs expects 6G to launch commercially by 2030. Standardisation phase 1 will likely start from 2025, leading to the first 6G specification in 3GPP Release 21 by 2028. It will be followed by commercial deployments around 2030. To make 6G a reality in the industry before 2030, Nokia is leading Hexa-X, the European Commission’s 6G flagship initiative for research into the next generation of wireless networks.
Nokia is also a founding member of the Next G Alliance, a drive to advance North American mobile technology leadership, and RINGS, an NSF-led initiative in the US that will accelerate academic research jointly with industry in areas with potentially significant impact on Next-Generation (NextG) networking and computing systems.
