Microamp wins EU funding to advance AI-RAN platform for 6G-era links
EUROPE 23 JUN

Microamp wins EU funding to advance AI-RAN platform for 6G-era links

Microamp, a Poland-based 5G mmWave vendor, has been awarded EUR 6.5 million from the EU's scale-up platform for deep tech business models. The capital from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator consists of a EUR 4 million equity investment and a EUR 2.5 million grant award. Microamp will use the cash to advance its upcoming Any-G mmWave AI-RAN Wireless platform, tailored to AI-capable mmWave links in the 6G era.

KDDI, Nvidia, Keysight and Samsung to develop digital twin RAN platform for 6G
JAPAN 23 JUN

KDDI, Nvidia, Keysight and Samsung to develop digital twin RAN platform for 6G

KDDI and KDDI Research have launched a joint initiative with Nvidia, Keysight Technologies and Samsung Research America to develop a high-fidelity digital twin radio access network (RAN) platform designed to support AI-driven network optimisation and automation in future 6G networks. The companies will work to create a virtual replica of a mobile network that can be used to train, test and validate AI models without affecting live network operations. 

NTT Docomo, NEC and 1Finity selected for Japan 6G research programme
JAPAN 23 JUN

NTT Docomo, NEC and 1Finity selected for Japan 6G research programme

NTT Docomo, NEC and 1Finity have been selected to participate in a Japanese government-funded research programme aimed at developing technologies for 6G mobile networks in the 2030s. The project, titled "Research and Development of Mobile Communication Networks Enabling Cross-Band Frequency Utilisation", was selected under the ministry of internal affairs and communications' new research and development for the expansion of radio resources initiative. NTT, Fujitsu, NTT Docomo, NEC and 1Finity will jointly c

Telia, Ericsson, AstaZero open 5G, 6G test lab with public backing in Sweden
SWEDEN 22 JUN

Telia, Ericsson, AstaZero open 5G, 6G test lab with public backing in Sweden

Sweden's leading telecom companies are opening a new lab to test 5G, 6G and AI innovations. The Digital Area Sweden initiative is led by Telia, Ericsson and AstaZero, with support from the public innovation fund Future by Lund and the national innovation agency Vinnova through Sweden's 'Advanced Digitalization' industrial programme. The lab will be open to businesses and public administration bodies to test advanced digital solutions in a range of conditions, helping accelerate adoption of new mobile and AI

3GPP marks completion of first 6G RAN study item
GLOBAL 18 JUN

3GPP marks completion of first 6G RAN study item

The first 6G RAN study in the 3GPP's standardisation pipeline has been approved by the alliance. Study item TR38.914, version 1.0.0, aimed to identify typical usage scenarios for 6G radio technology along with technical requirements in each use case. Following its completion, 3GPP intends to share the study with the ITU''s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) in support of IMT-2030 standardisation activity. TR 38.914's analysis looks at key performance indicators in next-generation cellular, along with archite

Korea and Japan discuss 6G and satellite spectrum policy ahead of WRC-27
JAPAN 18 JUN

Korea and Japan discuss 6G and satellite spectrum policy ahead of WRC-27

South Korea's ministry of science and ICT and Japan's ministry of internal affairs and communications have held the seventh Korea-Japan Radio Policy Director-General Meeting in Seoul, focusing on spectrum policy cooperation and preparations for the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27). The meeting brought together government officials and representatives from industry, academia and research organisations from both countries. 

EU radio spectrum advisor questions proposed licensing reforms
EUROPE 17 JUN

EU radio spectrum advisor questions proposed licensing reforms

The EU's Radio Spectrum Policy Group is opposing several aspects of the European Commission's proposed Digital Networks Act. In a response to the draft legislation, the RSPG said it may complicate several aspects of spectrum licensing and coordination, rather than deliver the simplification desired by the Commission and market. The advisory body is not in favour of the plan to merge much of its activities with the telecom regulator Berec in a new agency, nor does it support transferring many national spectr

Imdea Networks joins EU project to build privacy-focused 6G systems
SPAIN 17 JUN

Imdea Networks joins EU project to build privacy-focused 6G systems

A European research project led by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and including Madrid-based research institute Imdea Networks is developing a security and privacy architecture for 6G mobile networks that will treat communications and environmental sensing as integrated capabilities. The PAISES-6G project brings together 18 organisations from nine countries and aims to embed AI, post-quantum cryptography and privacy-preserving techniques into 6G from the outset rather than adding protections later.

Japan and UK prepare beyond 5G research programme on AI networks, NTN and photonics
JAPAN 17 JUN

Japan and UK prepare beyond 5G research programme on AI networks, NTN and photonics

Japan's ministry of internal affairs and communications (MIC) has launched a process to identify prospective participants for a planned Japan-UK joint research programme focused on Beyond 5G and 6G technologies. The initiative will be delivered through the Beyond 5G Fund administered by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). Ahead of a formal funding call, NICT has begun seeking expressions of interest from organisations intending to submit proposals.

Nokia and Ericsson join Finnish-Swedish resilient 6G consortium 'FISRE'
FINLAND 16 JUN

Nokia and Ericsson join Finnish-Swedish resilient 6G consortium 'FISRE'

The University of Oulu's '6G Flagship' programme and the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) have formed '6G-FISRE -- Towards Resilient 6G Networks - A Swedish-Finnish Joint Undertaking'. They said 6G-FISRE has a budget of almost EUR 4.3 million towards developing modern communication systems that operate reliably under increasingly complex and uncertain conditions. It unites academic, industrial and public sector partners including Aalto University, Chalmers University of Technology, Lulea Universi

UCD-led consortium aims to deliver semantics-driven 6G network resilience
IRELAND 16 JUN

UCD-led consortium aims to deliver semantics-driven 6G network resilience

University College Dublin (UCD) has formally launched an EUR 8 million R&D project endorsed by the EU's Smart Network and Services joint undertaking (SNS-JU) to advance security and resilience in Europe's future 6G networks. Shield-6G's threat intelligence project will focus on 6G semantics, whereby future cellular networks would be able to encode intent and meaning from raw data uploaded into the network. This work will be coupled with federated learning, secure multi-party computation and differential pri

Korea launches national AI-RAN research programme to support 6G
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF 16 JUN

Korea launches national AI-RAN research programme to support 6G

South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has begun work on a national research programme focused on developing AI-enabled radio access network (AI-RAN) technologies and associated validation frameworks for future 6G networks. The AI-RAN Global Leadership Project, backed by the ministry of science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), commenced in April 2026. 

ROMANIA 15 JUN

SNS-JU project examines XR connectivity in Romanian schools

A pre-6G pilot backed by the EU's Smart Network Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU) is progressing a trial deployment of extended reality in action in two rural schools in Romania. A recent update of SNS-JU activity said that the trial was implemented in May. Existing 5G capacity from Orange Romania was deployed to carry XR content, but the programme also provided a glimpse at technologies likely to become more prevalent in 6G cellular, such as advanced dynamic slicing and quality-of-service (QoS).

BRAZIL 15 JUN

Brazil and EU forge digital partnership

Brazil and the European Union have formalised a Digital Partnership to establish international cooperation in critical areas such as data governance, AI, 5G and 6G network infrastructure development, high-capacity connectivity, and digital public goods and services platforms. Beyond bilateral initiatives, the partnership will also involve political coordination in major global forums like the UN, G20, ITU, Unesco and ICANN, as well as technical standardisation bodies such as ISO, IEEE and 3GPP.

GLOBAL 12 JUN

Global 6G RAN capex could reach USD 100-500 billion a year - Dell'Oro

Dell'Oro has published its current forecast for the global 6G capex trajectory in the first six years of deployment. According to its June 2026 6G Advanced Research Report, 6G RAN expenditure could surpass USD 100-500 billion annually. This reflects an expectation that RAN procurement will scale rapidly following 6G's standardisation. However, Dell'Oro notes that operator cell sites today have greater capacity than in the 4G-5G transition, and there may be scope for existing massive MIMO transmitters to be

JAPAN 12 JUN

Korea advances AI and 6G security standards at ITU-T meeting

South Korea said it has secured approval for 14 new international standardisation projects covering AI, 6G security and digital identity technologies at a meeting of the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 17. The ministry of science and ICT said the approvals were achieved during the ITU-T security standards meeting held in Geneva from 1 to 10 June, where experts from 60 countries discussed information security standards. 

GLOBAL 11 JUN

3GPP confirms Release 21 freeze deadlines

3GPP has confirmed working deadlines for its upcoming Release 21 criteria, expected to mark the inaugural publication of normative 6G standards. Release 21 is scheduled for a third-phase functional phase in December 2028, ahead of the final ASN.1/OpenAPI freeze in March 2029. Preliminary first and second-phase freezes are planned in March 2027 and June 2028 respectively.

UNITED KINGDOM 8 JUN

UK advanced connectivity technology revenue worth GBP 32.9 bln in 2025

The UK's advanced connectivity technologies (ACT) market generated revenue of GBP 32.9 billion and approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA) of GBP 13.2 billion in 2025, according to new data published by the UK government. A total of 501 companies identified as providing ACT products/services in the UK in 2025, accounting for 4 percent of the wider telecoms industry company base. Of these, almost two thirds (66%) focus solely on ACT; with 36 percent offering ACT as part of a wider portfolio. ACT companies had a

GLOBAL 5 JUN

Northeastern University's INSI trials agentic AI platform for developing 3GPP-compliant RAN software

Northeastern University's Institute for Intelligent Networked Systems (INSI) has unveiled an agentic AI platform designed to accelerate software lead times in mobile sites. INSI's Genesis platform aims to provide end-to-end automation across the research and development lifecycle for 5G base station software and future 6G equivalents. INSI gives the example of turning a particular 3GPP specification update into validated code that is then issued over the air to production-grade 5G equipment in radio access

SPAIN 4 JUN

Imdea Networks to run four EU-backed 6G research projects

Madrid-based research institute Imdea Networks has secured funding for four projects under the European Union's Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, strengthening its role in the development of 6G technologies. The projects – PROSPERO, PAISES-6G, IoT-ZERO and PRIME-6G – are part of Horizon Europe's EUR 630 million investment in next-generation communications, with the institute participating in 20 percent of selected initiatives in the latest call.

GLOBAL 4 JUN

Keysight, NTT progress 6G channel modelling project

Keysight Technologies is working with NTT and the NTT Docomo mobile unit to explore pre-6G channel modelling and lab simulation technology. The collaboration, part of an ongoing memorandum of understanding between the two parties, is  announcing early development milestones, including channel modelling advances expected to support realistic 6G signal measurements and a simulation concept that would emulate distributed MIMO radio infrastructures.

GLOBAL 3 JUN

NGMN reports aim to convey 6G operator perspective on upgrade strategy, architecture and timings

The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) has issued two publications underlining operator 6G perspectives in the run-up to standardisation. The first paper looks at potential 6G architecture candidates and examines migration paths both in the core mobile network and in RAN-enabled mobile sites. NGMN calls on the industry to heed the experience encountered in 5G roll-outs, arguing this requires early convergence to identify a favoured approach to 6G migration and prevent fragmentation in the marke

KOREA, REPUBLIC OF 1 JUN

LG Uplus and Samsung partner on 6G sensing and AI technology research

LG Uplus has signed an MoU with Samsung Electronics to collaborate on research and development of integrated communications and sensing technologies, as well as AI-enabled 6G technologies. The companies said the partnership is intended to support the transition to 6G by validating emerging technologies in live network environments and assessing their potential for future commercial deployment. The collaboration will focus on integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) technologies, including base station-b

ITALY 29 MEI

Italy consults on using 3800-4200 MHz band for local wireless networks

Italy's communications watchdog Agcom has launched a public consultation on shared future use of the 3800 MHz to 4200 MHz band by terrestrial wireless broadband systems with medium-low power (WBB-LMP) capable of providing local network connectivity. The regulator said the band could represent a strategic resource for the development of new services based on 5G and, ultimately, 6G technologies.

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