Frequency Range 3 (FR3) is positioned between sub-6 GHz and mmWave
In sum – what to know:
Not mmWave 2.0 – FR3 sits between sub-6 GHz and mmWave and is designed to extend mid-band capacity upward without some of the same factors that limited mmWave.
Release 18 relevance – FR3 has entered the 5G-Advanced roadmap as an evolutionary capacity layer, shaping early 6G thinking.
Deployment reality – The band’s success will hinge on macro-site co-location, careful cell planning, and realistic expectations around indoor performance.
As the industry’s attention shifts towards 6G, renewed interest in higher-frequency spectrum is no longer being driven by millimeter wave. Instead, the focus has become the Frequency Range 3 (FR3) — a band positioned between sub-6 GHz and mmWave that promises additional capacity without forcing operators into ultra-dense network designs. Its features have already entered the 5G-Advanced roadmap and are influencing early 6G thinking. Understanding what this spectrum can — and cannot — deliver is increasingly important.
3GPP’s FR3 spans 7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz, sitting between FR1 (sub-6 GHz bands) and FR2 (millimeter wave, above 24 GHz). As such, FR3 is often described as “upper mid-band,” offering a balance of coverage and capacity that makes it an attractive part of the 5G-Advanced roadmap and a potential component of future 6G systems.
Vish Nandlall, technology strategist and former telecom systems engineer, said FR3 represents a more realistic and foundational opportunity for future networks than some higher-frequency bands currently under consideration, including sub-terahertz spectrum: “While expensive to clear and auction, FR3 is a necessary evolution and has strong near-term commercial viability. By contrast, sub-THz spectrum (above 90 GHz) is physics-limited: massive propagation loss, line-of-sight requirements, and immature hardware make it a niche for backhaul or specialized enterprise uses, not mass-market broadband.”
Similarly, in a piece written for RCR, Jessy Cavazos, 6G solutions expert at Keysight Technologies, said to expect an increase in coverage‑parity trials for FR3 in 2026 from existing C‑band sites, as this spectrum band overtakes Sub-THz, leading the “practical curve.”
Why it’s not mmWave 2.0
At first glance, it might appear that FR3 is something like “mmWave-lite.” In practice, however, it behaves much more like mid-band spectrum than millimeter wave, particularly when it comes to propagation characteristics and deployment economics. While FR3 operates at higher frequencies than today’s primary 5G mid-band, it does not exhibit the same degree of severe path loss, poor building penetration, or blockage sensitivity that have constrained mmWave deployments.
Just as importantly, FR3 is being studied with macro or macro-like cell deployments in mind, with an emphasis on reusing existing site grids where possible. By contrast, mmWave’s very limited coverage radius has forced ultra-dense small-cell architectures, driving up site acquisition complexity, power consumption, and overall network costs. FR3’s appeal lies in avoiding that densification cliff while still extending usable cellular capacity into higher frequencies.
In fact, according to Andreas Roessler, technical consultant at BackITapp Consulting, operators consider FR3’s ability to co-locate with today’s 5G macro base stations “an absolute requirement.” He wrote: “It is the only way to contain capital expenditure while extending networks into the upper midband.”
He added, however, that this co-location requirement introduces technical challenges. “3GPP needs to make FR3 co-location part of the baseline in 3GPP’s Release 21, the first normative set of 6G specifications,” he cautioned.
Likely use cases — and the case for more spectrum
While 5G promised immersive extended reality (XR), Roessler argued that current spectrum allocations are poorly suited to the uplink-intensive XR use cases expected in the 6G era, particularly at scale. FR3, he said, is designed to provide the additional uplink capacity those applications will require: “FR3 will fill that gap.”
Beyond XR applications, FR3 is expected to enable other high-capacity and mobile use cases, such as industrial control, UAV connectivity, and reliable high-rate uplink for AI/edge applications. Notably, these frequencies are also well-suited for non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), which are expected to play a vital role in achieving ubiquitous 6G connectivity.
Early testing is already underway. In 2024, Qualcomm and Keysight Technologies demonstrated what they described as the industry’s first end-to-end interoperability and data connection in the FR3 band. The trial used Keysight’s E7515P UXM 5G wireless test platform alongside a Qualcomm Technologies mobile test platform (MTP), a smartphone reference design used for validation and testing.
More recently, SoftBank and Nokia tested FR3 in an outdoor 7 GHz band (7.125–8.4 GHz) field trial. The trial compared coverage and radio characteristics of the 7 GHz band with commercial 5G Sub-6 (3.9GHz) by co-locating 7 GHz pre-commercial base stations next to existing 5G base stations on building rooftops. The goal was to evaluate whether massive MIMO could be used to deliver contiguous outdoor coverage across the surrounding area.
From a regulatory perspective, the 7 GHz band is now under study in ITU Regions 2 and 3. In Region 1 (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), however, portions of the band have been excluded from consideration due to NATO usage.
In the end, FR3’s viability — and its ability to avoid mmWave’s deployment fate — will depend on careful cell planning, antenna design, and realistic expectations around indoor performance.
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