6G technology and spectrum needs: Unlocking the next generation of wireless connectivity

As we march toward 2030, the relentless demand for wireless data is reshaping the landscape of connectivity. Meeting this demand requires a well-orchestrated strategy to secure new spectrum and optimize existing bands. The success of 6G, with commercial deployments expected to start around 2030, hinges on the timely availability of spectrum. Given the complexity of the spectrum allocation process, initiating activities to ensure spectrum readiness for 6G are imperative and cannot be delayed.

A data-driven era requires more spectrum

Wireless connectivity has become the backbone of global digital transformation. The proliferation of smartphones, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and connected vehicles — each supported by wireless broadband — has driven a massive surge in data consumption. In 2023, U.S. wireless data demand surged past 100 trillion MB (more than the total consumption from 2010 to 2018 combined) and marking a 2x increase over 2021.¹ Looking forward, it is expected that by 2030, global mobile data traffic will quadruple, reaching a staggering 465 exabytes per month, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% from 2023.²

This surge is powered by key trends:

• the continued proliferation of 5G,
• enhanced video streaming quality,
• the rise of extended reality (XR),
• cloud gaming, and
• the increasing prevalence of AI-driven applications and services.

Notably, AI is reshaping data flows, with global wide-area network (WAN) traffic projected to grow five to nine times from 2023 to 2033. By then, AI will account for an estimated 33% of all WAN traffic.³

The continued growing demand for mobile data underscores the critical need for expanded spectrum availability and greater efficiency in its use. 6G is positioned to meet these challenges, unlocking new possibilities in wireless innovation and advancing global connectivity.

Sustaining growth through spectrum innovation

The emergence of 6G opens the door to transformative opportunities across all spectrum bands — low, mid and high. Qualcomm’s vision is to drive innovations that unlock new spectrum while enhancing the operational efficiency of existing bands. This dual approach creates cost-effective scaling of traffic capacity, even as new use cases emerge. 6G will use wider bandwidths in the upper mid-band spectrum range (e.g., from 6-8.5 GHz) to enable high-performance applications like immersive extended reality (XR) and generative AI, while enhancing efficiency in low and mid-band spectrum bands (below 6 GHz) to boost coverage and capacity in these important wide area coverage bands.

Fostering sustained growth and allowing new services to truly take off.

Laying the groundwork for new spectrum

Securing spectrum for 6G is a decade-long journey that is already underway. Frequencies between 6 GHz and 15 GHz — known as the upper mid-band — have been identified as prime candidates for 6G use. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) have initiated studies to identify bands within this range for 5G Advanced and 6G. For instance, one of the most impactful agenda items for WRC-27 involves the identification of several frequency bands, including 4.4-4.8 GHz, 7.125-8.4 GHz and 14.8-15.35 GHz, for potential International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) use. In addition, many countries throughout the world are planning to deploy IMT services in the upper 6 GHz band (6.425-7.125 GHz).

In the U.S., the National Spectrum Strategy (NSS) has pinpointed the 7.125–8.4 GHz band for wireless broadband studies. These efforts reflect a growing recognition of the upper mid-band’s potential to deliver both wide-area coverage and high capacity, particularly when paired with next-generation technologies like our Giga-MIMO. Giga-MIMO leverages advanced antenna systems on both the base station and device to achieve coverage comparable to today’s 5G massive MIMO in the lower mid-band spectrum, further enhancing the feasibility of the upper mid-band utilization for 6G.

Giga-MIMO: Meeting the capacity demands of the decade to come.

Advancing spectrum efficiency

6G also represents an opportunity to improve the use of existing bands. By focusing on air interface design advancements in foundational technologies such as waveforms, coding, modulating, MIMO, data and control channels, and multi-band carrier aggregation, 6G will enable transformative upgrades for both existing and new bands:

• Low-Band spectrum (<1 GHz): Designed for lower data rates, wide-area coverage and power efficiency, advancements in waveforms, coding/modulation designs and multiple access technologies will enhance low power IoT applications.
• Mid-Band spectrum (1–6 GHz): As a macro capacity layer, mid-band innovations such as MIMO dimension scaling for FDD and bandwidth aggregation for TDD will optimize coverage, latency and spectral efficiency to better support wide-area services.
• Upper Mid-Band spectrum (6–24 GHz): As a macro capacity layer, the upper mid-band enabled by Giga-MIMO will not only optimize spectral efficiency and support wide-area coverage services, but it will also be complemented by innovations such as sub-band full duplex (SBFD), further enhancing overall efficiency.  
• mmWave spectrum (24–71 GHz): Innovations like fast AI-driven beam management and Giga-MIMO will enhance capacity in dense environments, efficiently enabling multi-gigabit connectivity in venues, transportation depots, shopping malls and dense urban areas, and supporting fixed wireless access (FWA). In addition, 6G integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) will enable new sensing use cases for local area coverage.
• Sub-THz spectrum (100+ GHz): Targeted at fixed links requiring extreme data rates, advancements like lensed MIMO will unlock use cases such as fronthaul and data center communications.

By driving these innovations, Qualcomm is setting the stage for enhanced wireless efficiency, helping to enable 6G to deliver on its promise of improved capacity, coverage and performance. Check out our most advanced wireless R&D prototypes and technology demonstrations, including our 5G Advanced and 6G innovations

6G will leverage all spectrum bands to serve diverse use cases and deployments.

The road ahead

The race to define and deploy 6G is intensifying. Countries and regions are investing heavily in research, while standardization efforts are actively underway. At the heart of 6G’s success lies the availability of spectrum — an enabler of technological progress and economic growth.

With commercial deployments expected in 2030, the long spectrum availability timeline underscores the urgency of current efforts. To stay ahead, the mobile industry must successfully secure fresh spectrum that meets the evolving needs of communication and capacity.

The future of connectivity is being built today, and Qualcomm is at the forefront of this transformation. From foundational air interface research to groundbreaking prototypes, we are shaping a smarter, more connected world powered by 6G technology.

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