Spectrum and policy dominated the week, with the United States pressing ahead on 6G groundwork, AT&T putting freshly acquired 600 MHz airwaves to work, and fresh licensing decisions landing from Paraguay to Ghana. Around that regulatory core, operators reported steady progress on 5G Standalone and 5G-Advanced, vendors sharpened their positions in the race towards 6G, and the satellite-to-mobile debate grew louder as SpaceX set out its ambitions for a terrestrial network. Here is what mattered for telecom professionals over the past seven days.
In the United States, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has begun studying the federally held 4.4 GHz band with a view to moving incumbent government users out and freeing capacity for national 6G auctions. The work follows a presidential directive from December 2025, and the NTIA has also cleared parallel studies of the 1.6 GHz and 2.7 GHz bands. The administration framed the 4.4 GHz assessment as a milestone in securing long-term leadership in next-generation wireless.
AT&T moved quickly to make use of the 600 MHz spectrum it acquired from EchoStar on 28 July, announcing an expanded partnership with Ericsson to supply dual-band radios configured for the band. Low-band 600 MHz frequencies carry a long way and perform well inside buildings, so the radios are aimed at improving coverage and uplink rather than headline peak speeds. The kit also carries eight receive antennas to support that uplink enhancement.
Licensing decisions continued elsewhere. In Paraguay, Tigo and Personal were the only bidders in the regulator Conatel’s second 5G spectrum tender, securing frequencies in the 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. Brazil’s Anatel granted TIM and Brisanet secondary, non-exclusive spectrum authorisations running to 2031 to expand mobile capacity in key markets. Ghana’s National Communications Authority extended its 5G licence application deadline by three weeks and published a consolidated set of clarifications for bidders eyeing mid-band frequencies in the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 3 GHz ranges.
Europe saw a notable regulatory pushback. In Portugal, operator association Apritel came out firmly against the regulator Anacom’s proposal to renew spectrum licences for just six and 14 years rather than the 20 years the industry wants. Apritel argued the shorter terms would undermine the investment case for continued network build-out, and signalled it may challenge the plan.
On the satellite front, the FCC voted to open a proceeding exploring how 200 MHz of spectrum might let unlicensed devices connect directly to satellites, part of a wider push on direct-to-device services that need seamless handoff between ground and space. The wireless internet body Wispa was quick to warn the regulator that parts of the draft rested on conclusions it considers unsupported by the evidence.
More than 20 governments have signed up to a coordinated 6G development timeline under a United States-led initiative, promising initial substantive progress within twelve months by aligning research priorities and opening clear channels between national bodies. The alliance now counts backing from around 25 countries, though commentators noted it still lacks a clear route to securing a trusted supply chain, which will be the harder test of whether it makes a real difference.
The technical groundwork advanced too. In Australia, Optus and Nokia completed a pre-6G trial using massive MIMO over upper 6 GHz frequencies, reaching peak download speeds of around 3.5 Gbps from a live 5G site in Sydney. The pair see the upper 6 GHz band as central to unlocking 6G-era capacity, a view echoed by Optus and others pushing for the band to be allocated for mobile use. In Europe, Latvia’s LMT joined a 16-member advisory group at the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, taking a leading role in the Shield 6G security project and the low-power IoT Zero initiative. The Netherlands’ digital infrastructure agency RDI, meanwhile, will showcase the national 6G test bed and field labs at an event in Amersfoort on 23 September.
Ericsson was named the sole global technology partner in a South Korean AI-RAN pilot led by SK Telecom, part of the country’s Hyper-AI Network Infrastructure Demonstration Project, with deployment planned at KG Mobility. The vendor cast the win as a foothold in the development of physical AI and 6G. The theme of intelligence moving into the network ran through the week: Comarch introduced an orchestration platform driven by human-in-the-loop AI agents to manage 5G, fibre and cloud infrastructure together, aiming to cut the manual scripting that leads to errors.
Competition in the underlying silicon and software is heating up as well. Arm may finally gain a credible virtual RAN challenger to Intel through Kenyi, a startup founded by a former Qualcomm executive, which is working to give Arm-based chips a stronger footing in the RAN. On the open-source side, Intel joined the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation as a premier member, lending weight to shared RAN software development for 5G and future 6G networks.
SpaceX set out its clearest plans yet to build a terrestrial mobile network alongside its Starlink direct-to-device service, positioning itself to rival AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and pointing to the EchoStar spectrum it has been accumulating. Analysts were markedly sceptical: several questioned whether a small-cell network hosted partly on Starlink customers’ homes could deliver the coverage and quality mainstream mobile users expect, and whether the economics stack up against three entrenched carriers. Expect the debate over whether Musk is genuinely building a fourth US carrier to run for some time.
In Europe, Eutelsat talked up 5G non-terrestrial network technology as a way for the EU’s expanded sovereign satellite ambitions to take on the likes of Starlink and Amazon’s Leo constellation. Chief executive Jean-Francois Fallacher framed standards-based 5G NTN as the route to European relevance in a market otherwise shaped by American operators.
Standalone 5G continued to spread. Vodafone Portugal completed modernisation across 53 of 56 Lisbon Metro stations, delivering full 5G coverage on the Yellow, Green and Blue lines, with the Red Line due by October; traffic underground has grown fivefold since the work began. Telia Estonia switched on 5G SA for owners of Samsung’s latest foldable flagships. In France, Orange kept the largest 3.5 GHz footprint of any operator, with 14,453 active sites on the band at the start of August according to spectrum agency ANFR.
Emerging markets posted solid numbers. Brazil added 1.4 million mobile lines in June to reach 277.8 million, with 5G adoption climbing to 24.2 per cent. Beeline Kyrgyzstan launched 5G roaming across more than 20 countries at the outset, with plans to widen coverage considerably. In Serbia, regulator Ratel data showed 2,354 active 5G base stations, led by Telekom Srbija. Malaysia’s U Mobile opened an Enterprise Innovation Platform Hub built on its 5G-Advanced network to help businesses develop and test 5G-A and AI applications before scaling them.
On the enterprise side, STL Partners forecast that global private mobile network revenue will grow from 2.3 billion dollars in 2025 to 22 billion dollars by 2030, with manufacturing leading the spending. And a new GSMA Mobile Economy report launched at M360 ASEAN projected that mobile technologies and services will contribute 1.4 trillion dollars to the Asia Pacific economy by 2030, a 40 per cent rise on today, while setting out the policy priorities the region needs to get there. Ookla, meanwhile, cautioned that several North African operators have struggled to sustain early 5G speed gains as take-up has grown, a reminder that launch is only the beginning of the capacity challenge.
US NTIA begins study of federally held 4.4 GHz band for 6G reallocation
A clear read on how Washington is clearing mid-band capacity for future 6G auctions and why the timeline matters.
https://www.telecompaper.com/news/us-ntia-begins-study-of-federally-held-44-ghz-band-for-6g-reallocation–1578835
New US 6G alliance must show it can make a difference
A sober look at the 25-country 6G pact and the supply-chain gap it still has to close.
https://www.lightreading.com/6g/new-us-6g-alliance-must-show-it-can-make-a-difference
Optus and Nokia complete pre-6G massive MIMO transmission using upper 6 GHz frequencies
Practical evidence of what the upper 6 GHz band could deliver for 6G-era capacity, with real-world speed figures.
https://www.telecompaper.com/news/optus-and-nokia-complete-pre-6g-massive-mimo-transmission-using-upper-6-ghz-frequencies–1579073
Musk’s mobile network moonshot is in danger of a crash landing
A useful counterweight to the SpaceX hype, weighing whether a terrestrial Starlink network can really challenge the big three carriers.
https://www.lightreading.com/satellite/musk-s-mobile-network-moonshot-is-in-danger-of-a-crash-landing
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