The Key Players - the chief cohort of countries leading global development of 6G is both well documented and comes as no surprise. The fierce geo-political & strategic rivalry between the United States, and China frequently dominate the headlines, often under the moniker of ‘The Race to 6G’ as the nation’s contest to cement their global technology leadership positions and systemic global influence across a raft of frontier technologies.
South Korea, Japan, and several European nations also feature heavily as key players – with their 6G leadership building on a combination of their trailblazing, early adopter 5G status, institutional research & academic prowess, and vanguard legacy of standards creation and influence in previous ‘G’ eras.
Beyond this, the global 6G landscape is also increasingly being shaped by a host of other nations, including, both, several late adopters of 5G and countries which historically have wielded little technical diplomacy, who are now using the 6G ecosystem as a catalyst for taking a more active role in shaping governance, standards creation, and securing their own technical sovereignty & national security.
In this article, we look at the role India, Vietnam, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil each play in shaping the 6G landscape, examine the drivers behind it, and look forward to what it could mean for the future of compliance – for 6G, and of other frontier technologies.
India – ‘Bharat 6G Vision’
India has long signalled its intent to compete with and assert itself amongst the Global Leaders and play a prominent role in orchestrating the global 6G landscape. The “Bharat 6G Vision” put forth in 2023, outlined India’s bold ambition to shape the development, standardisation, and commercialisation of 6G on its own terms, reflecting both its domestic connectivity priorities (such as rural access, and affordability) and India’s global aims to become a global leader in the innovation and export of telecoms equipment. To date India has made significant strides in its efforts, currently ranking 6th globally in 6G patents, and among global leaders in terms of ensuring its spectrum pipeline is 6G ready, through the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’s Spectrum Roadmap for 6G services.
Vietnam – Award Winning Recognition
Vietnam signalled its ambitions to be a leader in 6G early in 2022 with the Ministry of Information and Communications establishing the 6G steering committee with diverse objectives across research, standardisation, and to support the domestic production and commercialisation of 6G technologies. The effects and impact of Vietnam’s strategic vision and its ability to deliver it on practical terms is garnering international recognition, with the nation receiving the GSMA Government Leadership Award in 2026 for its sound forward looking policy digital inclusion initiatives, and spectrum management, with additional capacity identified for eventual use by 6G services.
Turkey – Strategic Patience
Turkey only concluded its first 5G spectrum auction in late 2025, and commercially launched 5G in April 2026, ranking it globally in the last cohort of adopters, and behind a raft of other nations, including 29 in Africa specifically. Though it may appear Turkey has fallen behind to nations with a fraction of it is economic & technical weight, this late adoption is closely entwined with its drive for technological sovereignty, and geopolitical resilience, and positions Turkey as a Leapfrog nation for 6G. This strategic patience, coupled with a wider 2030 Industrial and Technology strategy, has enabled Turkey to domestically develop & build its own future ready telecoms hardware & infrastructure, to pave the way as both a domestic first mover with sovereign 6G technology, and realise its broader ambitions to transition from a technology consumer to global exporter of technology & digital infrastructure. This momentum is further underpinned by Turkeys growing 6G patent portfolio, as a demonstration if it is intent to influence the creation of the 6G landscape.
Gulf States – UAE and Saudi Arabia – Innovation & Sandboxes
Both early adopters of 5G, the UAE and Saudi Araba are building on this strong foundation and positioning themselves to be at the forefront of 6G, not just regionally, but globally.
Anchored in broader national strategic initiatives such as the UAE’s Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) 6G Initiative, and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, both Gulf nations have already demonstrated significant prowess in advancing the 6G eco-system through innovative pilot projects and trials including UAE’s record breaking 6G Terahertz (THz) trial (2025), opening of first Upper U6GHz network at 6425–7125 MHz (2026) and Saudi’s 7GHz ‘Golden Band’ spectrum field trial (2026). Lacking the manufacturing infrastructure to shape the 6G era through production and hardware export, the Gulf states strategy is rooted in fostering innovation through ground-breaking R&D, regulatory sandboxes and cooperation in international standards bodies.
Brazil – Regional Leadership
Brazil is positioning itself to be the regional convenor for 6G development in LATAM, with initiatives such as the ‘Brazil 6G Project’ and CPQD ERA 6G Project, focused on cultivating domestic 6G readiness, and establishing Brazil as an internationally recognized hub for 6G knowledge.
Horizon Scan – Summary, Trends, & Future Compliance Implications
Global South & Frontier Technologies – The diverse cohort of nations shaping 6G arguably reflect a broader, geo-political tilt, towards a new era of multi-polar governance, and future rebalancing of economic power. Nations which were primarily adopters, and consumers in the 5G era, are now just 5-10 years later, actively shaping the architecture, standards, and governance for 6G, positioning themselves as policy torchbearers for the majority world, and ensuring they have a hand in shaping export markets for their own burgeoning high-tech domestic manufacturing industries.
Micro Regulations to Macro-Level Geopolitics – Compliance Considerations – with 6G hardware still some time away, the matter of national level regulatory certification may seem to be a second-order effect, but the deeper nuance has been tangibly evident for many years. India, Vietnam, Brazil – have all undergone significant & sustained periods of regulatory reform, as they have elevated their national compliance schemes & quality institutions – a process of which has often been a source of regulatory friction for manufacturers. With 6G, we are now seeing the intended impact of these more assertive sovereign requirements as these nations position themselves to be technology shapers, and equipment exporters.
Levelling Up - 6G -A Pattern for The Future – 6G may be one of the first technologies where we witness this more geographically dispersed distribution of technical leadership, but it is unlikely to be the last. Across a range of frontier technologies, the majority world is increasingly engaged with, and shapes the global technology ecosystem, through international collaboration, and South-South governance strategies to ensure their national interests are projected and accounted for.