Decoding 3GPP’s First Official 6G Workshop
The first official 6G workshop held in Incheon, South Korea this year saw 1,676 registrants and 219 contributions from every facet of the mobile ecosystem.
Attendees reported that this meeting didn’t feel like a typical 6G tech workshop. Rather, there was a feeling akin to a citizen’s assembly deepening engagement for broader consensus on mobile’s next network generation.
Whereas 5G’s path was driven by technology pursuits, with business cases, end user demands, and return of investment lightly addressed, this time was different. As 6G comes into focus, government, academia, and enterprises are joining planning discussions from the start.
While vendors will still write 6G's final specifications, the voice of the network customer is prevalent as decisions are made.
Let’s dive into the key takeaways of this workshop, where attendees sought to identify how to build 6G value and drive toward day one use cases that can be monetized, with consensus on additional critical developments.
New 6G beginnings prioritize the business case
If a single phrase continuously floated above technology, it was “monetization.”
Presentations emphasized an imperative to incorporate a business case into specifications from day one with the acknowledgement that each requirement should be baselined against its inherent commercial value.
This marked a shift from 5G, where service providers felt features and capabilities were added without a clear business case. This time, operators favored a smaller, more focused set of capabilities tied to high-value verticals and use cases.
Cost discipline was the second major discussion point. Limiting 6G capabilities, options, and use cases to those with clear business value is should help reduce costs. Leveraging advanced technologies like cloud native and AI were discussed prominently in the context of cost efficiency.
Beyond traditional communications, attendees zeroed in on a select group of use cases and services viewed as especially relevant for driving 6G business value:
- Extended reality (XR) experiences that demand ultra-low latency, high throughput, and consistent performance across devices and environments
- Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) to unlock new service categories like environmental awareness, location precision, and real-time situational intelligence
- Enable next generation AI-based services, not just using AI to increase network efficiency
- Expose enhanced network capabilities via open application programming interfaces (APIs)to stimulate monetization opportunities
If these fruitful discussions were an accurate indicator, 6G will be realistic, practical, and simplified, not revolutionary.
Lessons from 5G’s architectural smorgasbord
The perspective that a less complex 6G network will generate demand through innovation reflected the issues experienced with 5G. Too many architectural options contributed in part to 5G's growing pains, including the non-standalone (NSA) 5G half-way house.
The workshop consensus was that 6G should be lean, streamlined, and standalone (SA) from day one, with no intermediate step and fewer permutations. There was also a view that there should be minimal interworking from 6G to 4G, stimulating a future 4G sunset.
Day one = “Native”
Supporting the desire for 6G cost efficiency, attendees advocated that the core network should have fundamental capabilities designed and integrated into the architecture as native capabilities by default on day one, including:
- Cloud, Kubernetes, service-based architecture
- AI functioning as the control loop of the radio access network (RAN) and core lifecycle management
- Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) fully integrated, to blur the edges between satellite and cellular
Diverging views on the 6G core network
While there was plenty of agreement, the event also saw divergent views on 6G core network architecture.
Many in the Chinese telecom ecosystem would like to see a completely new 6G core network that does not reutilize the 5G core. There are strong technical reasons to pursue this approach, including that the 6G core would focus on AI and data centers, adding new traffic planes for computing, security, and intelligence, on top of today’s data, user, signaling, and management planes.
A broad cohort of stakeholders in the global ecosystem are advocating to evolve the 6G core from the 5G core. In this scenario, the 5G service-based architecture would be reused, with upgrades for post-quantum security, AI lifecycle hooks, and stateless network functions. New 6G network functions and capabilities would be added incrementally as needed.
It’s too early to identify which core network pathway will be followed, but a blending of ideas is highly likely to maintain consensus and avoid fragmentation.
There was also a strong push for unifying API exposure to enable framework developers to work with one standards body, not many. Debate was vocal, mostly, on the appropriate governing body for the framework, rather than on the enhanced exposure.
Spectrum must unlock value
One technical topic discussed was adoption of Frequency Range 3 (FR3), from 7.125 to 24.25 GHz, for the 6G RAN and to harmonize terrestrial and NTN designs.
While FR3 faces technical and regulatory hurdles, it offers notable cost and integration advantages for vertical markets:
- Greater efficiency: Large contiguous FR3 spectrum (i.e., 400 MHz channels) reduces the need for aggregating smaller bands, though parts of the range are already in use by governments and NATO.
- Site reuse potential: Stronger propagation may allow reuse of existing macro urban 4G/5G sites, with several rooftop trials already underway.
- Vertical alignment: Spectrum alignment with satellite KU/K bands could enable seamless roaming and shared silicon with automotive-grade sensors.
Sustainability, security, and resilience form 6G’s iron triangle
While 5G trumpeted increased speed, 6G is poised to stake its reputation and value proposition on responsibility with a more robust and resilient platform that delivers a range of improvements.
Sustainability advancements will see measurable reductions in energy, spectrum, and material usage. A zero-trust posture hardened for post-quantum threats will evolve security capabilities. Resilience will get a boost from self-healing networks that can withstand floods, cyberattacks, or even supplier failure.
Timelines toward Release 21 and IMT-2030
Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has a two-step roadmap for 6G, with Release 20 (2025-2027) framing the study items and Release 21 (freeze no earlier than March 2029) delivering the first normative 6G specs in time for IMT-2030 submission. Early adopters might have first equipment available in late 2029, with the rest of market probably following in 2030.
Though the timing seems far off, the window for the industry to influence the standards is quite short. 3GPP’s working group SA1’s use case study is already approved, RAN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-focused study commences in June, and the industry will debate technology proposals by December. By the end of year, the overall 6G package should be known.
What does this mean for test and assurance?
As the leading global provider of automated test and assurance solutions for networks, we at Keysight reflect on how the 6G workshop discussions will impact our customers. Some things to consider are:
- Validation of concepts must happen earlier than ever. Using emulation environments, study group ideas should be tested for plausibility before they become specifications.
- AI-native networks need AI-native assurance. That means synthetic data generation, continuous model verification, and closed-loop anomaly hunting need to be incorporated into requirements before operational launch.
- Green metrics, like power measurement and carbon scoring, will be baked in. The network needs to be tested against those pass/fail criteria.
- Tightly integrated non-terrestrial networks change terrestrial test cases. Orbital handovers, differential latency paths, and spectrum coexistence scenarios need to be tested as standard options, not just bespoke projects.
The bottom line
The Incheon workshop’s subtext was clear. 6G cannot afford to replay 5G’s multitude of options and features that were expected to dramatically impact people’s lives.
A lean, optimized 6G architecture will unlock new innovations and revenue opportunities without a complexity-tax burden. For now, ambitions are tempered and 6G is being positioned as a realistic — not earth-shattering — step in the right direction.
Learn more about trends leading to 6G, and more from our 5G Halftime Report.