Guang Yang, senior principal analyst at Omdia, told RCR Wireless News that it’s almost clear that the 6GHz band will be the core band for early 6G deployments in China
In sum – what to know:
6GHz trials – China approved 6GHz spectrum for 6G field testing, moving research from lab-based work into real-world deployment scenarios.
Field validation – Trials will focus on testing performance, interference, and networking capabilities using prototype and pre-commercial 6G systems.
2030 target – China continues positioning itself for commercial 6G deployment around 2030 while accelerating standardization and ecosystem development.
China has approved trial spectrum in the 6GHz band for 6G development, allowing researchers to begin real-world testing of next-generation wireless technologies in selected regions as the country pushes toward commercial 6G deployment around 2030.
The approval, granted by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to the IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group, enables testing based on performance targets and scenarios defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The move shifts China’s 6G program beyond laboratory research into practical field trials covering urban and industrial environments.
According to local newspaper China Daily, the approval will allow engineers to evaluate issues such as signal penetration, interference, and equipment performance under real deployment conditions. The IMT-2030 (6G) Promotion Group — led by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) — includes operators, vendors, and academic institutions, with participants including Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi, Ericsson and Nokia.
Experts cited in local reports described the 6GHz band as a critical spectrum resource for the transition from 5G to 6G because it combines broad bandwidth, relatively long transmission distances, and low latency characteristics.
China completed the first phase of its 6G trials in 2025, focused on theoretical research and core technology development. The next phase, running through 2027, will focus on prototype validation and technical solution testing before broader system-level trials with pre-commercial equipment.
“The MIIT, China’s telecom regulator,identified the 6.425-7.125GHz band for IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) services in 2023, but has not allocated it to any telecom operators. Now, it’s almost clear that the 6GHz band will be the core band for early 6G deployments in China, which is important for the entire industry chain, including operators, vendors of network equipment, devices, chipsets, components, and test instruments, and even application developers, to prepare for the upcoming 6G,” Guang Yang, senior principal analyst at Omdia, told RCR Wireless News.
“Vendors can optimize their solutions and designs for the band and obtain experience from early trials. As the band will likely be used for 6G by other regions as well, such as Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and some countries in APAC and America, early preparation will help Chinese vendors’ competitiveness in those markets. Actually, before 5G’s commercialization, China had conducted similar trials. This time, they should have hoped to replicate the success story in 6G,” the analyst said.
However, the analyst highlighted some challenges faced by the Chinese industry. “There are broad doubts about 6G’s commercial perspective. The current 6G development is more likely driven by the narrative of the international high-tech race than by real market demand. The convergence of AI and RAN is another uncertainty. On one hand, integrating AI into the RAN to some extent is almost a consensus in the industry. On the other hand, the supply of advanced semiconductors remains constrained for top Chinese vendors and operators. In these cases, early-starting 6G trials may be even more valuable than previous 5G trials, helping the industry strike a trade-off between system features and chip capabilities and explore potential use cases.”
