Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has begun planning the country’s 6G spectrum roadmap, with a roadmap strategy expected by the end of the year
In sum – what to know:
Global collaboration – ITRI signed new agreements with European organizations to advance 6G research, validation activities, and standards cooperation.
National planning – Taiwan is developing its 6G spectrum strategy while aligning candidate frequency bands with international ecosystems and expected commercialization around 2030.
Evolutionary path – Dell’Oro expects 6G to build on existing infrastructure, with AI-driven demand representing a key variable that could accelerate or delay future investment cycles.
Taiwan is strengthening its international collaboration on 6G research and standards development while advancing domestic preparations for next-generation mobile networks, as industry forecasts point to significant—but evolutionary—investment in 6G infrastructure over the coming decade.
At the recent 2026 EuCNC & 6G Summit, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) led a delegation of industry and research representatives to showcase Taiwan’s 6G capabilities and deepen ties with European partners. The visit included the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the European 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA) and the Taiwan 6G Industry Forum (6GIF) to promote cooperation on 6G technology development, international trials and standards alignment.
ITRI also signed a cooperation agreement with the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) under the Future Network Services program to jointly advance integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) research and technical validation.
The international initiatives complement Taiwan’s broader 6G strategy. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said it had begun planning the country’s 6G spectrum roadmap, with a strategy expected by the end of the year. Officials said they are evaluating candidate frequency bands, including the lower 600 MHz range, the upper 6 GHz band, and portions of the 4.7 GHz to 5 GHz spectrum, while emphasizing alignment with global standards ahead of anticipated commercial deployments around 2030.
At the summit, ITRI showcased technologies spanning non-terrestrial networks (NTN), AI-enabled network management, integrated sensing and communications and satellite communications. Among the demonstrations was a self-developed 6G base station chipset that combines an FR3 radio-frequency front end with a high-density antenna architecture and, according to ITRI, delivers nearly five times the transmission capacity of current 5G base stations.
ITRI also presented an ISAC platform developed with European partners for applications including drone detection, low-altitude airspace monitoring, and indoor positioning.
Taiwan’s efforts coincide with industry expectations that 6G will represent an evolution rather than a fundamental break from existing mobile network architectures. According to a recent Dell’Oro Group report, the baseline scenario envisions 6G building on technologies such as Massive MIMO, existing macro site grids and wider channel bandwidths to improve radio access network economics.
“While the G decoupling movement is gaining momentum for all the right reasons, the most likely scenario is still that 6G will be another G, with 6G RAN capex expected to accelerate toward the end of the decade,” said Stefan Pongratz, vice president of RAN and telecom capex Research at Dell’Oro Group.
In comments to RCR Wireless News, Pongratz further explained that “6G is expected to be evolutionary and build on the existing macro infrastructure,” adding that new wide-band spectrum will be the primary vehicle for improving capacity and RAN economics.
Dell’Oro projects cumulative 6G wireless capital expenditure to exceed $500 billion during the first six years of the technology cycle, while cumulative 6G RAN revenue is expected to surpass $100 billion. However, the firm does not expect 6G to dramatically expand the overall RAN market, citing constrained operator revenue growth.
Pongratz also outlined alternative scenarios tied to AI adoption. “The more optimistic scenario assumes that AI-driven applications materially accelerate mobile data traffic growth and increase demand for network capacity. Under this outcome, operators could begin facing capacity constraints within the next several years, resulting in an earlier and more pronounced investment cycle.”
At the same time, he noted that “the more pessimistic scenario assumes a meaningful slowdown in mobile data traffic growth. In this case, operators would have less urgency to invest in incremental capacity, delaying future upgrades and reducing the need for 5G/6G-related investments.”
