{"id":12668,"date":"2025-01-15T17:28:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T17:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/?p=12668"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:41:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:41:29","slug":"6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This article is part of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spectrum Policy Trends 2025<\/a>&nbsp;report. Download the full report for a handy compilation of the top five spectrum policy trends for 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2025, the scale of 6 GHz development for IMT will continue to grow as more nations deliver a clear roadmap to its use for mobile. This momentum is set to provide telecom operators with the long-term investment certainty they need to drive innovation in future technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why does it matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the significant outcomes of the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) was the identification of additional mid-band spectrum to meet the growing demand for mobile data. Countries representing 60% of the global population sought inclusion in the identification of the upper part of the band (6.425\u20137.125 GHz) for licensed mobile, and with decisions after WRC-23 that footprint will now cover 80% of the world\u2019s citizens. This band sits above the lower 6 GHz band (5.925-6.425 GHz), which is often assigned for unlicensed technologies, including Wi-Fi. WRC-23 thus made a balanced decision that supported both services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mid-bands provide city-wide coverage and cater for around 80% of indoor capacity in urban areas (where mobile is predominantly used indoors). They will also deliver much of the capacity required for enterprise digitalisation and industrial connectivity. Mobile networks will need an average of 2 GHz of mid-band spectrum per country by 2030, and this will be difficult to achieve without 6 GHz, which is the single largest remaining mid-band block. Ensuring its timely availability at reasonable conditions and prices is therefore crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the policy considerations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regulators are now seeking further evidence to inform their decisions on which technology requires additional 6 GHz spectrum. They are considering three different policy options for the upper 6 GHz band:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>licensed mobile use<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>unlicensed Wi-Fi use<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>enabling shared use by e.g. reducing the power levels of mobile deployments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Option one, where the upper 6 GHz is assigned for licensed, macro-cell mobile with standard power levels, provides the greatest economic benefit because mobile is much more likely than Wi-Fi to be capacity-constrained. This means additional spectrum in the upper 6 GHz band is needed to drive greater improvements in network quality and user experience, leading, in turn, to greater benefits for the wider economy. By assuming efficient utilisation of spectrum, unlicensed assignments in the 2.4, 5 and lower 6 GHz bands are more than sufficient to meet the expected demand for Wi-Fi traffic. This makes further unlicensed assignments unjustifiable. Regarding option three (shared use), restricting the power levels of mobile base stations in the upper 6 GHz band to facilitate sharing will significantly reduce the additional capacity they can provide. As a result, the economic benefits are lower than having a fully licensed macro-cell band. Furthermore, given that the majority of mobile traffic originates indoors, there is no clear rationale for attempting to enforce sharing environments where mobile is used outdoors and Wi-Fi indoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Figure-1-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"832\" height=\"584\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Figure-1-1.png\" alt=\"A figure showing the economic benefit of the three scenarios in nine countries.\" class=\"wp-image-12681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Figure-1-1.png 832w, https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Figure-1-1-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Figure-1-1-768x539.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 832px) 100vw, 832px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><sub>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GSMA_Mobile-Evolution-in-6-GHz.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GSMA Intelligence<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Latest developments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December, Hong Kong concluded the world\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/hong-kongs-6-ghz-spectrum-auction-a-new-era-for-mobile-communications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first IMT auction<\/a> of the upper 6 GHz band, and the UAE is assigning the full upper 6 GHz to its operators. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh and Cambodia have added it to their spectrum roadmaps and India is also progressing the use of 6 GHz for mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, Australia, Brazil, Chile and Mexico moved away from dedicating the entire band for unlicensed use and identified the upper part of the band to IMT in the countries\u2019 table of frequency allocations. In 2025, many more nations will make 6 GHz available for IMT. Countries across APAC, the Gulf region and Latin America will help accelerate these regional trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These developments confirm 6 GHz as the harmonised home for the future of mid-band capacity. Using 6 GHz to deliver a clear roadmap towards future connectivity can provide fast, affordable mobile broadband, lower the usage gap and narrow the digital divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find out more about the 6 GHz band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-for-imt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Policy in practice: UAE assigning the upper 6 GHz to its mobile operators<\/strong> &nbsp; <br>On 27 November 2024, the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), announced the update of the UAE\u2019s National Frequency Plan V4.0 that reflects all the outcomes of WRC-23. The update included the allocation of 600 MHz and the upper 6 GHz bands for mobile service identified for IMT. It was also announced that these two bands will be assigned to both operators in UAE. &nbsp; <br><br>The UAE will thus be one of the first in the world to offer 6 GHz mobile broadband and one of the earliest movers on 600 MHz in EMEA. This forward-thinking decision positions the UAE at the forefront of superfast connectivity and lays the foundation for groundbreaking innovations in 5G-Advanced and 6G technologies. By unlocking the potential of the 600 MHz and 6 GHz bands, the UAE is set to deliver enhanced connectivity \u2014 transforming the digital landscape for businesses and consumers alike. The allocation of the full upper 6 GHz band means that the two operators e&amp; and Du will receive channels of 350 MHz each.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2025, the scale of 6 GHz development for IMT will continue to grow as more nations deliver a clear roadmap to its use for mobile. This momentum is set to provide telecom operators with the long-term investment certainty they need to drive innovation in future technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":12670,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1692],"tags":[3998],"algolia_discover_type":[4026],"class_list":["post-12668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-mid-bands","algolia_discover_type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning - Spectrum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Progress on 6 GHz for IMT will continue in 2025 as countries present spectrum roadmaps for mobile use. This will help drive investments.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Progress on 6 GHz for IMT will continue in 2025 as countries present spectrum roadmaps for mobile use. This will help drive investments.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spectrum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T17:28:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T11:41:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"iivanov@gsma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"iivanov@gsma.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning - Spectrum","description":"Progress on 6 GHz for IMT will continue in 2025 as countries present spectrum roadmaps for mobile use. This will help drive investments.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning","og_description":"Progress on 6 GHz for IMT will continue in 2025 as countries present spectrum roadmaps for mobile use. This will help drive investments.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/","og_site_name":"Spectrum","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_published_time":"2025-01-15T17:28:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-11T11:41:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"iivanov@gsma.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GSMA","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"iivanov@gsma.com","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/"},"author":{"name":"iivanov@gsma.com","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/person\/4550f7d2210fcacdee4540444eee8a9c"},"headline":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning","datePublished":"2025-01-15T17:28:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-11T11:41:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/"},"wordCount":817,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Mid-bands"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/","name":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning - Spectrum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-15T17:28:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-11T11:41:29+00:00","description":"Progress on 6 GHz for IMT will continue in 2025 as countries present spectrum roadmaps for mobile use. This will help drive investments.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1706,"caption":"Hong Kong Island from Kowloon"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/6-ghz-to-dominate-mobile-capacity-planning\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"6 GHz to dominate mobile capacity planning"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/","name":"Spectrum","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#organization","name":"GSMA","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"GSMA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GSMA","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gsmaonline\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/12380","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GSMAOnline","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GSMA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/person\/4550f7d2210fcacdee4540444eee8a9c","name":"iivanov@gsma.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db2aec7235ec15b6909c845f5c8b0998a05c77dc7a4eca1cb149c4f0f8c17bef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db2aec7235ec15b6909c845f5c8b0998a05c77dc7a4eca1cb149c4f0f8c17bef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db2aec7235ec15b6909c845f5c8b0998a05c77dc7a4eca1cb149c4f0f8c17bef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"iivanov@gsma.com"}}]}},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/iStock-516418718-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12668"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14683,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions\/14683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12668"},{"taxonomy":"algolia_discover_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/algolia_discover_type?post=12668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}