KISDI Publishes Report on 6G Standardization Trends, Key 6G-Enabled Future Services, and Policy Issues (detail)

※ URL(Korean): https://www.kisdi.re.kr/bbs/view.do?bbsSn=115057&key=m2101113055776&pageIndex=1&sc=&sw=

KISDI Policy Report (25-13): 6G Standardization Trends, Key 6G-Enabled Future Services, and Policy Issues

Key Findings

- Reviews domestic and international 6G standardization trends and examines policy issues surrounding key 6G-enabled future services, including humanoid robots, urban air mobility (UAM), and digital twins.
- Expert survey identifies AI-integrated communications as the most important characteristic of 6G.
- Proposes policy directions to promote the co-evolution of AI and communications networks and strengthen the industrial ecosystem.

The Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI, President Sangkyu Rhee) has published KISDI Policy Report (25-13), 6G Standardization Trends, Key 6G-Enabled Future Services, and Policy Issues.

The report analyzes 6G standardization initiatives led by major international standardization organizations, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as developments in the United States, China, the European Union (EU), and Japan. It also examines the industrial landscape, future outlook, links with AI and 6G, and key policy issues for three representative 6G-enabled future services: humanoid robots, urban air mobility (UAM), and digital twins. In addition, the report presents the results of a survey of telecommunications experts regarding the future of 6G mobile communications and related policy directions.

According to the report, following the ITU's release of the IMT-2030 Vision in 2023, countries around the world have accelerated efforts to develop 6G standards. International discussions are currently being advanced through organizations including the ITU, 3GPP, ETSI, and the O-RAN Alliance.

The report notes that 6G differs from previous generations of mobile communications in that potential applications and services are being considered from the early stages of the standardization process, reflecting the limited adoption of many innovative services introduced during the 5G era. It also explains that major economies—including the United States, China, the European Union, and Japan—are pursuing national strategies to secure core technologies and accelerate 6G commercialization through collaboration between governments and industry. Korea is likewise advancing spectrum planning, international standardization activities, and core technology development.

The report identifies humanoid robots, urban air mobility (UAM), and digital twins as representative 6G-enabled future services and analyzes their technological and industrial trends as well as related policy challenges.

Humanoid robots are characterized by their human-like form, versatility, and ability to interact with people. Core technologies include motion control, sensing and perception, AI-based decision-making, and control systems. The report projects strong market growth driven by technological advances, declining production costs, and increasing demand, while identifying legal and institutional frameworks, advances in on-device AI, and improvements in energy efficiency and safety as key policy challenges. It also notes that advanced 6G connectivity is expected to play an important role in collaborative and mission-critical applications.

Urban air mobility (UAM), based on electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, is presented as a future transportation system with the potential to improve mobility, reduce traffic congestion, enhance public services, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The report suggests that 6G, including low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications, could support aircraft control and management as well as passenger services. At the same time, it identifies social acceptance, infrastructure development, and legal and regulatory frameworks as major prerequisites for commercialization.

Digital twins are described as technologies that replicate physical objects in digital environments to support analysis, simulation, and decision-making. They are already being applied across manufacturing, urban management, building management, energy, healthcare, and other sectors. The report explains that the ultra-high-speed and ultra-low-latency capabilities of 6G can enable more precise and responsive digital twin operations, while AI serves as a key enabling technology by supporting autonomous operation, modeling, data analysis, and decision-making.

The report also presents the results of a survey of 51 experts from industry, academia, and research institutions. Among the defining characteristics of 6G, 64.7% identified AI-integrated communications as the most important. Respondents also selected humanoid robots as both the future service expected to make the greatest use of 6G technologies and the service with the highest likelihood of success in the 6G era.

To strengthen Korea's competitiveness in 6G, the experts highlighted the need to expand research and development (R&D) investment, foster the industrial ecosystem, cultivate skilled professionals, and improve regulatory and institutional frameworks.

The report concludes that advances in mobile communications networks alone will not guarantee the success of future services. Sustainable growth will also require viable business models, a robust industrial ecosystem, supportive legal and institutional frameworks, and broad social acceptance. It further emphasizes that, as communications networks become increasingly important for enabling AI technologies, AI policies should be pursued alongside the development of communications infrastructure, while communications networks themselves should continue to evolve through the active adoption of AI technologies. In this regard, the report identifies the government's AI-RAN policy as a positive example of this integrated policy approach.

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KISDI Publishes Report on 6G Standardization Trends, Key 6G-Enabled Future Services, and Policy Issues