From 1G to 6G and beyond: The Finnish journey of connecting everything

I am sure many of you have 5G connection on your phone. Do you remember since when we have had 5G?

Since 2019.

Did you know that the 6G Flagship program at the University of Oulu, the world’s first and largest academic research project on 6G was launched in 2018… even before 5G was available?

Not so surprisingly, this is not the first time Finland played a pioneering role in wireless technology.
The world’s first GSM or second generation 2G call was also made right here in Finland on July 1, 1991, by former Prime Minister Mr. Harri Holkeri!

Let us embark on a journey through the generations of wireless networks, from 1G to beyond 6G and see how Finnish technologies have been playing an oversized role in this development.

A brief history of wireless generations

We begin our journey in the 1980s. Imagine carrying a briefcase-sized phone that cost a fortune and only made calls.

That was 1G - the first generation of mobile networks. It was abc - analog, bulky, and costly.

Then, in the early 1990s, the second generation or 2G arrived.

Suddenly, we had digital networks like GSM, offering better call quality at affordable prices as well as short messages.

My first mobile was a GSM phone and I believe it is the same with many of us here. In fact, GSM has been so successful that it is still the dominant global standard for mobile phones.

The 2000s brought 3G with mobile internet, though the service was slow and exorbitantly expensive.

Many of you may remember the first smart phones - the famous blackberry phones from that era.

It wasn’t until the 4th generation (or LTE as it is commonly known) in 2010s that streaming videos and browsing the web on the go became smooth and widespread.

Unlike 3G, 4G was a commercial success thanks to faster speeds and better quality enabling not only streaming and browsing, but also other applications like online gaming, and even remote work from Mökki.
 
Do you notice a pattern here? A new generation has typically evolved approximately every 10 years.

Looking closely, one can further notice another trend: Odd-numbered generations (like 1G and 3G) introduced radical shifts, while even-numbered ones (like 2G and 4G) refined and popularized them.

Nonetheless, all the first four generations focused on Connecting People – serving average consumers like you and me. However, 5G did not just continue this trend. It introduced a game-changer: connecting not just people but also things.

From smart fridges and S-market’s self-driving delivery robots to industry 4.0, 5G provides connectivity for the Internet of Things (or IoT).

This introduced the notion of ‘Connectivity as a Service’ – that is where wireless networks serve as the backbone connecting other applications like social media, ChatGPT and drones.

What the next generation 6G will be like?

At 6G Flagship, we have been asking this question for the past eight years.

There are three main aspects of 6G: societal goals, market expectations, and technological advancements.

Let’s break them down.

From the societal perspective, 6G aims to bridge the digital divide, ensuring everyone - even in remote areas - can access essential services; and it must help fight climate change by making networks more sustainable.

In terms of market expectations, 6G will further advance 5G’s paradigm of ‘connectivity as a service’ to connect people, things and the newest kind in the block – AI agents.

Finally, emerging technologies like AI-driven networks and flying base stations will no longer just exist in science fictions; they will in fact be the building blocks of 6G.

6G will not just be better than 5G technologically, it will be more sustainable and inclusive. Hopefully, 6G will also be a commercial success similar to earlier even-numbered generations 2G and 4G.

Beyond 6G – the era of resilient networks

So, what’s next?

As researchers, we are always intrigued by the question what comes next and at 6G Flagship we are naturally asking what will networks beyond 6G be like.

That’s where things get really interesting.

We’re already thinking about resilience as one of the defining feature of beyond 6G networks.

Simply put, resilience is the ability of networks to anticipate, adapt and advance in the face of expected and, more importantly, unexpected disruptions.

But why do we need to focus on resilience?

Because our world is becoming more complex which increases the disruption risks.

Think climate change induced weather disruptions, AI induced cyber threats, or even intentional attacks on our digital infrastructure and disinformation campaigns. Future networks must be designed to handle, withstand and overcome them without collapsing.

So, how can we ensure resilience?

This is an ongoing research topic and still a very much open research question.

Our initial findings suggest that we need to design future networks to be intelligent, self-healing and adaptive.

1. intelligent – so that they can predict disruptions before they happen
2. self-healing – that is networks that can automatically take pre-emptive actions to overcome or minimize disruptions; and
3. adaptive – by learning from their experience to continuously improve over time.

The goal isn’t just about technological development, it’s about building a future where our digital infrastructure is as robust as our physical infrastructure like roads or power grids.

In this short but adventurous journey, we have seen that from 1G’s briefcase-sized phones to 6G’s AI-driven smart cities, wireless networks have come a long way.

As we push toward 6G and beyond, we’re not just connecting people - we’re connecting everything, in ways that are smarter, greener, and more resilient than ever before.

So next time you stream a video or ask your phone for directions, remember: you’re riding the wave of decades of innovation with a strong Finnish contribution, and the best is yet to come!

The blog text is based on Senior Research Fellow Nurul Huda Mahmood’s speech on the University of Oulu Opening Ceremony of the Academic Year on 8 September 2026.