Widening the highway: a once-in-a-decade opportunity

Unencumbered by backward-compatibility, unconstrained by existing designs, free to operate efficiently in new spectrum as well as old, the advent of a new generation brings a once-in-a-decade opportunity for a revolutionary redesign. This is especially true for the cellular chipsets that are the communication engines at the heart of the user devices, where new designs will be able to support radical enhancements such as wider bandwidths and a leap in energy efficiency.

Just as doubling the number of lanes on the highway removes bottlenecks and improves driving experience, so doubling the channel bandwidth will lead to a much-elevated user experience in 6G compared to 5G. It is therefore highly significant that 3GPP decided last week, following an initiative from Nokia and other leading industry members, that a channel bandwidth of 200 MHz should be considered for 6G.

Just as wider highways can’t easily be constructed through densely populated regions, so wider channel bandwidths must be associated with suitably clear spectrum. New frequencies in the upper-6 GHz band (6.4 – 7.1 GHz) are ideal for this, having been identified during WRC-23 for mobile broadband services in large parts of the world by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). 3GPP highlighted this association last week, when it indicated that a carrier frequency of 7 GHz would be a pragmatic assumption for the use of 200 MHz channel bandwidths – twice the maximum bandwidth supported by 5G at similar frequencies. Additional channel bandwidths may yet be added for 6G at these and higher mid-band frequencies, among which 7.1-8.4 GHz has similar characteristics to the upper-6GHz band. Existing lower frequencies and bandwidths will also be supported for smooth migration from 5G.

A further beauty of the upper-6 GHz band is that it can support 6G deployments using the existing cell sites of mid-band (3.5 GHz) deployments, hence minimizing network construction costs for operators.

Energy efficiency

Refreshed device chipsets will also enable significant advances in energy efficiency, enabling ultra-low-power operation both in the devices and on the network side – a critical step for both sustainability and operational costs. This was also identified by 3GPP last week, when it provided initial views on the key areas of benefit to be targeted by 6G. In addition to familiar aspects such as data rate, spectral efficiency, latency, reliability and mobility, much greater emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainability is expected, as well as new aspects such as sensing and positioning capabilities.

Known in the industry as “Technical Performance Requirements” (TPRs), targets in each of these areas will set the benchmark against which 6G systems will be evaluated: a system that passes evaluation against the TPRs (as ultimately agreed by the Radiocommunication Sector of the ITU (ITU-R)) will be classified as an IMT-2030 system – in other words, a system worthy of being considered an International Mobile Telecommunications system for the 2030s, the era of 6G.

Mobile network operators in 3GPP have highlighted the need for the TPRs for 6G to be commercially relevant – a critical notion for 6G’s commercial success. 3GPP’s diverse ecosystem comprising network operators, equipment vendors, and device and chipset vendors, as well as a wide range of representatives of vertical industries and markets, gives 3GPP a uniquely relevant perspective for driving 6G to success.

The roadmap to the next generation

From March 2025, 3GPP will start to develop a common view of the high-level technology and architecture components for the 6G system, which are expected to include key 6G radio technology components, the overall RAN architecture, RAN interfaces, migration from 5G, and spectrum considerations. This is expected to feed into detailed technology studies in 3GPP’s RAN working groups from August 2025. 3GPP will develop its 6G specifications in Release 21, starting in early 2027, and formally submit them to ITU-R for IMT-2030 by the beginning of 2029, with commercial 6G deployments expected in 2030.

Close liaison between 3GPP and ITU-R will be essential throughout this timeline to ensure that the widened highway is completed and the goal of 6G commercial success achieved.