It's time to think about 6G – yes, really

Mobile operators and vendors are already sketching out what comes after 5G, even though current 5G networks still have room to grow. Light Reading and research firm Omdia argue that 2026 is the right moment to start treating 6G as a practical planning topic, not a distant slogan.

The industry’s early 6G work focuses on what new services might exist by around 2030, what spectrum those services will need, and how networks must change to support them. The message is not that 6G is arriving soon, but that long development cycles mean decisions taken over the next few years will shape what 6G can realistically deliver at the end of the decade.