PT Expo China 2026 showcases 5G-Advanced and 6G achievements in Beijing
PT Expo China 2026 was held in Beijing on 22-24 September under the theme of strengthening networks and computing ecosystems, with concentrated displays of large-scale 5G-Advanced commercialisation, 6G technical trials, computing infrastructure, satellite internet and quantum achievements. MIIT vice-minister Yu Xiaohui said China will push broadband networks towards dual-gigabit evolution, advance LEO satellite internet construction, and accelerate 6G core technology R&D and standards work. MIIT figures show China had 5.154 million 5G base stations by the end of July, while the 15th Five-Year Plan for the ICT industry targets a 95% 5G user penetration rate and 320 million gigabit-plus broadband households by 2030. An ION-2030 (intelligent optical network) promotion group was launched at the opening ceremony.
3GPP plenary defers 5G-to-6G migration decision, MRSS locked in as baseline
At its plenary meeting in Madrid, 3GPP failed to agree on the number and options for 5G-to-6G migration, deferring the decision to the December meeting in Boston. The baseline is now set as multi-RAT spectrum sharing (MRSS), allowing 6G to be deployed on spectrum shared with 5G while reusing part of the 5G RAN equipment. Three options were discussed: 6G-anchored dual connectivity, 5G-anchored dual connectivity, and dual-stack/dual registration, with 6G-anchored drawing the most support. China Mobile chief expert Liu Guangyi noted that the lesson from 5G was that too many options led to fragmentation, calling for 6G SA as the target with MRSS as the baseline, and insisting any alternative must justify its added complexity.
GSMA Intelligence: global 6G connections to hit 2.4 billion by 2035, China takes over half
GSMA Intelligence forecasts global 6G connections will reach 2.4 billion by 2035, starting from roughly 50 million at end-2030, 275 million in 2031, passing one billion in 2033 and reaching 1.9 billion in 2034. The report sees 6G's first cycle in two phases: initial commercialisation and ecosystem building from 2030 to 2032, then global-scale operation from 2033. 6G growth will not erode 5G, with 5G still accounting for about 60% of mobile connections in 2035 and 6G for 23%. The report highlights that China will take more than half of global 6G connections on the strength of its scale, while several leading markets will also see around half of connections on 6G by the mid-2030s.
Vocus to build 4,000km ducted fibre route connecting Brisbane and Darwin
Australian fibre operator Vocus will build a second long-haul ducted fibre cable, running 4,000km to link Brisbane, Townsville and Darwin, with capacity for up to 3,456 fibre cores and service planned for 2030. It is the second project under its Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP), designed to address the fibre capacity gap driven by surging AI demand. The ducted approach places fibre inside protective ducts, allowing new fibre to be blown in later for expansion without re-excavation. Vocus previously announced a Sydney-Melbourne ducted cable, a AUD 500 million (about USD 345 million) investment due to enter service in 2029.
LoRa Alliance: global LoRaWAN deployments reach 150 million devices
The LoRa Alliance announced at The Things Conference in Amsterdam that 150 million LoRaWAN-connected devices are now deployed worldwide, a compound annual growth rate of 25%, adding about 25 million devices since the 125 million recorded at end-2025. Applications have expanded beyond utility metering to smart padlocks, pallet tracking, bicycles, emergency buttons and employee safety badges. ZENNER Connect operates more than 11.6 million sensors and 174,000 gateways, Netmore runs 11.2 million active devices, and Veolia operates 4 million smart meters in France. The alliance also released the TS014 and TS018 specifications to automate device onboarding and reduce field labour.
Anterix: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo first to support 900MHz private LTE
US spectrum holder Anterix announced that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo are the first Apple devices to support its private LTE network in licensed 900MHz spectrum (Band 106). This means critical infrastructure operators in utilities and industry can connect standard commercial smartphones directly to dedicated wireless networks, using them alongside purpose-built operational devices for field communications, video backhaul and situational awareness, without equipping crews with multiple specialised handsets. Anterix said the milestone signals that dedicated private wireless networks are becoming a mainstream communications platform.
T-Mobile puts AI to work on 5G network resilience with AutoPilot
T-Mobile US is expanding its use of AI to strengthen 5G network resilience, launching the AutoPilot feature and rolling out its Dynamic CX platform nationwide. AutoPilot layers AI and machine learning on top of self-organising network capabilities: engineers set coverage or capacity targets and the system automatically decides parameter adjustments, with real-time changes measured at about half the time of the previous process. When a site goes down due to damage or power loss, the system can automatically adjust antenna tilts and radio power at neighbouring sites to fill coverage gaps. During winter storm Fern, the system helped sites across more than 30 states stay up for over 250,000 extra minutes. AutoPilot is expected to cover the whole US by end-2026.
Zhejiang's first 5G-A super uplink commercial base station goes live in Wenzhou
China Mobile's Wenzhou branch has activated Zhejiang province's first commercial 5G-Advanced super uplink base station at the Wenzhou Sports Centre, pushing network speeds into the gigabit uplink era to guarantee high-quality connectivity for large-scale events. 5G-A super uplink uses technologies such as uplink carrier aggregation and supplementary uplink to significantly boost uplink throughput and reduce latency, fitting uplink-intensive scenarios including HD video backhaul, live streaming and AI-based quality inspection. The activation is a concrete sign of accelerating 5G-A commercialisation and echoes the 15th Five-Year Plan's call for multi-dimensional network capability upgrades.
Sateliot: IoT success depends on standards and spectrum access, not just connectivity
Sateliot's co-founder told the MWL Unwrapped Digital Industries event that IoT success is not only about the connectivity technology itself: standards, technology choices and spectrum access matter just as much. He argued that space-air-ground integrated IoT solutions need a clear standardisation path and obtainable spectrum resources to scale across logistics, agriculture and infrastructure use cases. Netmore has previously combined terrestrial LoRaWAN with Kineis satellite connectivity to push beyond terrestrial network coverage boundaries.