Apple, Google and LG Electronics are the latest major players to join the Next Generation Alliance, a coalition of companies working to define and develop the next generation of mobile technology.
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) launched the group last month, with backing from top US and Canadian operators, Ericsson and Nokia, among others. Its main aim is to establish North America as a leader in 6G.
Along with the device makers, Charter Communications; Cisco; Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Intel; Keysight Technologies; Mavenir; MITRE; and VMware also joined.
The group’s first meeting is scheduled for 16 November.
In October, ATIS president and CEO Susan Miller told Mobile World Live founding members will initially be tasked with appointing a steering group, with working groups to follow in “early 2021”.
Despite its North America slant, several international companies are among the Next G Alliance’s founders. Notably absent, though, is Huawei, which was one of the first companies to start talking about 6G in 2019.
Miller explained companies “cannot join as founding members if they have been barred from federal contracts by agencies within the US government”, which Huawei and ZTE were in 2018.
