GSMA outlines mid-band spectrum requirements for 6G in Vision 2040 study
2 companies named across 13 categories, one of 24 articles referencing GSMA. Previous coverage: GSMA report indicates 6G networks will require increased mid-band spectrum. (Nov 2025).
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The GSMA released a Vision 2040 report outlining concerns about mid-band spectrum availability and its implications for urban wireless capacity by 2030. The analysis suggests that without increased spectrum allocations, over half of the world's urban population could experience network constraints. This highlights the necessity for forward-looking planning in next-generation networks expected to reach about 5 billion connections by 2040.
The report emphasizes the importance of preparing for future wireless technology deployments, such as 6G, which will coexist with 4G and 5G networks for many years. Telecommunications providers face long lead times for equipment development and network upgrades, including fiber backhaul and Radio Access Network (RAN) enhancements. Multi-Radio Access Technology Spectrum Sharing (MRSS) is projected to play a role in managing concurrent network generations despite adding operational complexity.
Traffic volumes are expected to increase significantly, driven largely by Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled applications. The study forecasts monthly data traffic could rise to 4,000 exabytes in a high-growth scenario by 2040. Factors contributing to this growth include new AI-driven applications, higher performance demands for personalized content, increased time users spend online, and some efficiency improvements from data compression. A small proportion of users currently generate a majority of mobile traffic, with this pattern expected to become more widespread as digitally native groups mature.
The report identifies urban concentration of traffic, with 83% of data usage located within 5% of geographic areas, where dense urban traffic can be up to 700 times higher per square kilometer than rural levels. In such environments, mid-band spectrum between 2 and 4 GHz is projected to be critical for providing low latency, balanced uplink/downlink performance, and efficient deployment, with demands potentially requiring 2 GHz or more to be operational by 2030 to avoid early congestion in 6G rollouts.
Operational challenges include limits to further network densification due to escalating costs, the supplementary role of Millimeter Wave (mmWave) technology constrained to localized traffic needs, and the inability of unmanaged Wi-Fi offload to meet performance guarantees necessary for mission-critical 6G applications. MRSS is considered essential to support multi-generation network coexistence, as 4G and 5G will remain in use through 2040.
Telecommunications providers are advised to prioritize the allocation of upper 6 GHz band spectrum, integrate MRSS into network designs, account for uplink-heavy workloads associated with AI and sensing, and develop Service Level Agreements (SLAs) tailored to sectors requiring specific latency and reliability standards. Strategic densification should be applied selectively rather than broadly as a substitute for spectrum acquisition. The GSMA underscores that spectrum policy decisions will influence network performance and infrastructure development in coming decades.
Press release, originally published by Alan Weissberger at techblog.comsoc.org.