6G prepares to step out of AI’s shadow

Joseph Waring delves into the 6G ecosystem, investigating where the industry is today and what the next generation of mobile technology might offer.

Early 6G standardisation may be progressing on schedule, with pre-commercial trials expected later in the decade, but the technology and its promise of new capabilities such as integrated sensing and communication isn’t yet capturing many headlines.

The next-generation mobile standard’s narrative over the past year or two has been hijacked by AI. Global AI computing demand jumped 100-fold over the last three years and is projected to surge another 100-fold over the next five years. Such data points are raising eyebrows.

AI is delivering tangible results for operators in automating everything from customer service engagement to network maintenance, while 6G is a far-off concept designed to deliver even faster speeds and drive a shift to AI-RAN. 

In an article on the World Economic Forum’s website, Ericsson president and CEO Borje Ekholm predicted as AI applications scale, the focus will broaden beyond data centres, semiconductors and large models to new areas such as sensors, drones, humanoid robots and extended reality glasses.

He argued paving the way for this AI-driven future will require an open, secure and interoperable technology foundation, spanning 5G and 6G networks, cloud infrastructure, chips and AI. 

“AI-native 6G networks will provide even faster upload speeds than 5G and will be significantly more energy-efficient, by using radio spectrum more efficiently,” he forecast.

The transition to 6G is expected to coincide with a projected sharp increase in mobile data traffic driven by an “AI super cycle, ubiquitous immersive services” and video, across consumer and industrial domains, Nokia spectrum specialists Mirela Andouard and Eiman Mohyeldin outlined in a blog.

Existing low- and mid-band spectrum, with a total bandwidth of up to 1.2GHz, is insufficient to meet the capacity and performance targets envisioned for 6G, making availability of new spectrum a prerequisite. The industry estimates that an additional 2GHz to 3GHz of mid-band spectrum is needed for 6G to support traffic-hungry applications as well as latency-sensitive ones. 

More than six years after the first 5G launches, the experts declared the outlook for 6G development and standardisation is increasingly positive. “There is a real shift across regions, as policy decisions and industry actions converge on a common objective: finding the spectrum foundation that will unlock the next generation of digital infrastructure.”

With regulators increasingly aligned around securing substantial upper mid-band spectrum, the pair stated the 6G spectrum story “is beginning to crystallise”, which will accelerate innovation, trials and ecosystem development.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently announced the country moved to the second phase of technical 6G trials after completing the first phase, marking the shift from fundamental research to prototype development.
Leading South Korean players expect initial commercialisation of 6G to begin after 2030, with widespread adoption taking place around 2035.

Head of GSMA Intelligence Peter Jarich believes 6G will be vital for handling future data growth, but noted some industry pundits expect traffic to slow and level off after soaring for years.

Jarich told Insight the capacity growth outlook is complicated and difficult to forecast. “We really have little idea the way traffic is going to go, particularly in an AI world.” 

He pointed to FWA, which continues to grow in many places, as well as future IoT sensors collecting data to support AI models.
The analyst emphasised over the past decade the base of consumer usage has jumped to a significant number, giving the example of moving from 500MB to 1GB being 100 per cent growth, while just a 10 per cent increase on 10GB is an additional 1GB. “That is huge. We can’t overlook the fact that although the growth is slowing, the base is much bigger.”

In India, which launched 5G in 2022, market leader Reliance Jio reported average data consumption rose 34 per cent year-on-year to 40.7GB a month in the final quarter of 2025, indicating traffic growth is definitely not slowing.

A GSMA Intelligence survey of operator network and procurement executives ranked increased capacity as their primary business goal for ‘beyond-5G’ technologies to support, an aim cited by more than half. Reducing network costs was selected by just 10 per cent.

The survey, however, raised questions about the current need for 6G, with just 43 per cent saying their interest in the technology is being driven by clear business demands.

From a financial perspective, Counterpoint Research director Marc Einstein told Insight mobile operators aren’t prepared for a new capex cycle, just a few years after hefty 5G investments. 

Einstein insisted operators’ response to 6G is still muted, asking where the use cases are? “They need a compelling reason, and at this point don’t have one.”

He suggested the South Korean and Japanese governments are pushing the technology as they want domestic vendors to benefit.

“Operators won’t double revenue from 6G. What they are looking for is to significantly change their cost structure, such as reducing headcount by using software. Is that driven by 6G or AI, or a combination? They are trying to get their heads around that.” 

Jarich agreed, noting operators are working to reduce costs by improving the performance of the network, be it increasing speeds or boosting efficiency. 

“The question is do we need 6G for that or can we do it with 4G or 5G? It’s a good question. But it’s always easier when you bake the capabilities into the system in the beginning.”

Yu Takki, head of SK Telecom’s Network Technology Office, pointed out autonomous networks have long been a strategic priority for mobile operators. While attempts to implement them were made in the 5G era, he said these efforts were limited to adding software layers on top of existing architectures, resulting in clear limitations in real-time control and intelligence.
“In contrast, we see 6G as being envisioned as AI-native architecture by design that enables autonomous operations.”

In 6G standardisation, Yu noted networks are being designed to incorporate capabilities that enable AI-driven situational awareness, failure prediction, dynamic resource reallocation and autonomous responses to security threats.

Satoshi Nagata, senior manager for NTT Docomo’s 6G-Tech Department, outlined the Japanese operator’s vision to position the network as a platform to maximise the performance of AI and robots, an approach it sees as foundational to the 6G era.

At MWC26, Nagata said Docomo will illustrate this shift through technologies such as sensorless robotics, demonstrating how network capabilities can complement and extend the sensing and intelligence of AI-driven systems. In-network computing, which integrates computing resources with mobile communication devices, is also one of the technical elements that supports networks for AI.

“By distributing intelligence across the network, this model supports lower device power consumption and cost, while enabling deployment in environments where onboard computing alone would be impractical,” he explained.

Such emerging use cases put new demands on network performance, Nagata added, particularly in terms of real time data processing, ultra-low latency, high reliability and energy efficiency. 

“Meeting these requirements is increasingly seen as a key driver behind the development of 6G. In this context, 6G is expected to serve not merely as a communication technology, but as foundational infrastructure that supports AI-native services and autonomous systems across society.”

With the industry now more than halfway through the 5G era, the buzz around 6G will certainly pick up momentum in the coming months. And nowhere will this be more visible than at MWC26. 

Many exhibitors, in addition to Docomo, are no doubt planning to highlight 6G progress at their booths. 

Yu stated the future networks will support a vast range of hyper-connected services such as autonomous driving, humanoid robots and AR glasses as well as mission-critical applications including disaster management, aviation and maritime operations.
The big question is when will the business case for the next-generation mobile technology start to catch up with the enhanced technical capabilities?