5G home internet has fast become one of the better alternatives to the NBN, and 6G could be even better. The good news is that 6G is on the way. The bad news is that you’ll probably be waiting a while for it to land on Australian shores.
In the meantime, here’s everything we know so far about 6G – including what it is, how it compares to 5G, how fast it will be, whether you’ll need to buy a new phone to make use of it, and what local carriers have to say about the next big shift in mobile networks.
What is 6G?
6G is the next major standard in wireless telecommunications. When it eventually arrives, this emerging standard promises to bring with it new breakthroughs in how data moves around a mobile network but also how much can be moved and at what velocity. Like 5G and 4G before it, those changes are expected to both meet changing connectivity demands from both businesses and consumers as well as unlock entirely new possibilities for services offered over a wireless network.
Right now, most of the details are TBD though. The standard that will eventually be known as 6G is still being decided on by an organisation called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in consultation with both governments and businesses.
How fast will 6G be?
The short answer: faster than 5G.
The long answer: it’s too early to say exactly how fast 6G will end up being, both in terms of theoretical speeds and the average consumer experience with the technology involved. However, current estimates suggest that 6G could offer speeds as fast as one terabit per second. If that’s even half true, we’re talking about a speed bump of 50x what 5G offers.
Latency is also expected to improve, as is network capacity. However, Optus’ Chief Technology Officer Sri Amirthalingham said that 6G is more than just an upgrade on these specific metrics.
"It will seamlessly integrate sensing, computing and AI so networks can intelligently adapt in real time," said Amirthalingham. "This opens up practical, high-impact use cases, from paramedics accessing live diagnostics before arriving on scene, to immersive remote learning, to smarter, more responsive operations for businesses."
He added that it also has the potential to strengthen network resilience, allowing for more adaptive networks that better support critical communications and respond to emerging risks.
"Our focus is ensuring these advances translate into meaningful outcomes, improving reliability, enhancing safety, and delivering technology that is practical, inclusive and easy to use for Australians."
"As the ecosystem evolves, we will continue working with industry partners to ensure 6G delivers real-world benefits and meaningful improvements in how people live, learn and work."
When will Australia get 6G?
At this stage, Australia likely won’t see the first 6G networks launch for at least a few more years. The standard itself isn’t expected to be finalised until 2028, ahead of an expected 2030 rollout.
Asked for comment, a Vodafone spokesperson told WhistleOut more or less exactly this.
"6G is expected towards the end of this decade at the earliest, with widespread deployment likely in the early 2030s," said the spokesperson.
"Global standards are still being developed and spectrum consultation is still in progress. Infrastructure manufacturers are still working through their long-term roadmaps and the full end-to-end ecosystem including handsets and consumer devices is still a long way off."
Speaking to WhistleOut Australia, Telstra Executive for Technology Engagement Advancement Channa Seneviratne said much the same.
While the 3GPP is expected to release the full standard for 6G in 2029, the sheer amount of stakeholders will likely make 2030 a more realistic rollout date for the technology in Australia.
"The other thing that's worth sort of noting is that the ecosystem always needs time to build up, which puts us in a fantastic position ahead of the Olympics in 2032 in Brisbane," Seneviratne added.
In contrast, Optus’ Chief Technology Officer Sri Amirthalingham told WhistleOut that 6G could arrive faster than anticipated.
“At Optus, we are actively preparing for this shift, working through spectrum considerations, engaging in global standards development, and ensuring we are ready to harness the full potential of the technology for our customers," said Amirthalingham.
What’s the difference between 5G and 6G?
We can’t know for sure just how big the difference between 5G and 6G will be until the latter arrives, but early signs suggest that the latter will seek to distinguish itself from its predecessors by taking advantage of higher frequencies.
Where 5G capped out at 100Ghz, some have speculated that 6G could jump into 1THz and beyond. By taking advantage of these additional frequencies, the expectation is that 6G will be able to move more data faster.
That’s just the start, though. One of the key ambitions for 6G is that it will allow for simultaneous signal sending and receiving.
According to a white paper on 6G issued by Samsung, “allowing overlap between downlink and uplink over the entire time-frequency resource (a.k.a. “full duplex”) can increase system capacity by two times, in theory".A Vodafone spokesperson told WhistleOut that while it is too early to say anything too specific about how 6G will raise the stakes for wireless connectivity, there are a few known quantities even at this stage.
"Every generation of mobile technology aims to improve the fundamentals: increased throughput, lower latency and spectral efficiency," said the spokesperson.
"We're focused on getting the most out of 5G; however, the shift to 6G is expected as demand for data continues to grow and we explore new innovations within our mobile network. For example, our TPG-UTS Network Sensing Lab uses 5G signals to detect and predict flooding in real time. 6G could enable even more of these innovative applications."
Are there any 6G phones?
There are currently no 6G phones. Eventually, there will be. From a consumer perspective, it’s probably safe to expect a similar rollout to one we recently saw with 5G.
Bigger brands like Samsung will likely be the first to offer 6G-enabled devices, and next-generation connectivity will probably arrive first on flagships and other premium smartphones. Eventually, the technology will proliferate down to cheaper hardware and smaller manufacturers.
As with 5G, though, there isn’t likely to be a strong argument for rushing out and upgrading to a 6G device as soon as they become available to buy. At least, for now.
Telstra's Channa Seneviratne told WhistleOut Australia that the rollout of 6G smartphones will likely look like their 5G counterparts.
“We'd expect, certainly by 2030, when I expect we launch, we will have a reasonable set of devices that we can go to market with, as that's the experience with all the Gs previously," he said.
Citing Telsyte’s most-recent Australian Mobile Services Market Study, Telsyte senior analyst Alvin Lee noted that over half of Australian handsets are 5G-capable — suggesting that there’s still plenty of room for adoption to grow in years before any sort of local 6G rollout begins.
Will 6G cost extra?
Short answer: 6G plans will probably be more expensive.
From the perspective of the carriers who are looking at investing in the time and money it’ll cost to build a 6G network, charging customers is the most straightforward way to recoup that investment. However, 5G was only ever an extra in Australia for a short time.
In the years since it first rolled out, it’s quickly gone from an add-on to a standard inclusion in most mobile plans – with the exception being the cheapest. It's not impossible to imagine 6G rolling out with a similar trajectory, but we’ll have to wait and see.
However, based on what Telsyte senior analyst Alvin Lee had to say, a repeat of 5G seems like a safe bet.
“6G will likely arrive as a premium service initially, as 4G and 5G did before it,” he predicted.
Why do we need 6G?
Australia’s 6G network rollout is still likely a few years away, but Qualcomm’s Christian Daher didn’t shy away from pitching some of the potential benefits that the emerging telecommunications standard might bring to those on a fixed wireless connection.
Speaking to WhistleOut Australia at this year's Mobile World Congress, Daher cited specific 6G proposals like GigaMIMO - which could help increase the overall capacity of the network and expand the density of fixed wireless connections that can be handled in a given area.
This is more of a side-effect than a stated purpose behind 6G as a project, though.
As put by Daher, the rise of AI agents and applications demands a new network standard that’s capable of dealing with the subsequent growth in network activity.
“The network now — 5G — the profile of the traffic is heavily downloads. The majority of traffic that is used is video streaming — people watching YouTube or some Netflix — and the nature of that traffic is downlink.”
“With AI, when people start to use visual models or take pictures and generate images and upload to social media or do something like that, the nature of the traffic changes. You start to have a lot of uplink profile, and then you’re going to need more capacity on the uplink,” he explained.
According to him, the integration and adoption of AI across platforms and applications is going to drastically change not just the profile of individual consumers but also the volume of network activity they produce. As more consumers start to use AI agents on their phones and other devices, existing network infrastructure may struggle to handle the subsequent traffic.
While AI workloads are increasingly split between the device, the network’s edge and cloud, that need for greater uplink capacity is only going to grow. However, that shift towards distributed compute may come with some silver linings for both consumers and carriers.
One of the other big proposals for 6G is the implementation of low-power wake-up signals. If that ends up being accepted and effectively implemented, it's possible that we could see a reversal of what we saw during the earlier stage of 5G adoption.
In the early days of the last network rollout, devices had to rely on sub-optimal implementations like non-standalone 5G, which often resulted in worse battery life. With 6G, the opposite might be the case. Interestingly, this emphasis on power conversation could apply not just for consumers but also to network infrastructure.
Daher suggested that if a given cell of the network isn’t actively servicing any connections, it may also shift into a low-power mode. This could bring down operating costs, enabling further network expansions into areas where it was previously considered difficult to justify from an infrastructure investment perspective.
In other words, 6G could bring with it better battery life and fixed-wireless coverage.
Telstra's Channa Seneviratne told WhistleOut Australia that while faster speeds would enable more immersive and sophisticated experiences involving augmented and mixed-reality, those applications are only the beginning of what the next generation of mobile networks might unlock.
Specifically, he called out the potential for seamless connectivity between satellite and terrestrial networks.
“Today, when we go on satellite, it's like roaming onto another network. But in 6G, we expect you know, much more seamless interconnection between the two layers.“
He also pointed to a technology being proposed as part of 6G called Integrated Sensing & Connectivity (ISAC), which could allow the entire network to act as a sensor. In coordination with the rollout of new ambient IoT sensors that are able to power themselves off the ambient radiation, this could allow for a network that does a lot more than just handle calls and help consumers stay connected.
As Seneviratne puts it, this would allow Australia’s mobile networks to observe the movement of people, traffic, and eventually drones as well. Citing China as an example, Seneviratne said that Australia could soon see its own drone-powered low-altitude economy before long.
"We expect in the time frame that we have 6G, we'll see a lot of drones in the air,” he said.
Throw in atmospheric variation tracking and an AI-powered back-end used to process all that extra data, and this vision of a 6G network that acts as a sensor inevitably starts to sound a little bit dystopian.
“It can build up this picture of what the environment is, which unlocks so many new use cases for so many different sectors.”
“The insurance industry would love to know what, for example, the weather is going to be like early on because if you have the whole network as a sensor, you'll pick up storms and bushfires really early on,” he said.
Speaking to WhistleOut Australia, Telsyte’s Alvin Lee echoed many of these sentiments, predicting that 6G will enable tighter integration of LEO satellites and cellular networks into a more unified system.
“For Australians, the real 6G promise is not just faster streaming, but seamless, always-on connectivity whether you are in the CBDs or the outback."
"It is also expected to enable more standalone AI-powered devices such as smart glasses, hearables and other wearables, with heavy processing offloaded to the network edge for faster, more responsive performance,” he added.
Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
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