Before we start…
Hello everyone. This is officially the first post for the 6G Futures Substack. It will be followed by the first weekly news round-up, which has actually been sitting on my Obsidian for a couple of months whilst I have been tweaking the format and editorial processes. I am now loading this, and several others, onto Substack to create a modest archive and give new readers some extra content.
Another reason for “pre-loading” some content is to demonstrate how 6G has developed over the past few months. Future newsletters will refer back to earlier posts, if and when there is continuity of topics.
Why this, why now?
I have been covering telecoms news and developments since the start of the 1990s, so I can chart the evolution of 6G back to its GSM origins. I continue to work for TelecomTV, which is the industry website I co-founded in 2001 and I recommend you go and take a look if your work involves telecoms.
TelecomTV started its 6G coverage just after the emergence of commercial 5G, with a series of webinars around early R&D activity. In March 2025, I wrote a series of detailed PDF reports (freely available on TelecomTV) that document the 6G views and requirements of operators, vendors and other stakeholders. I will create a post of all useful links and pin them to this Substack.
Whilst TelecomTV will continue to cover the evolution of 6G, it is not (yet) a major focus for its readership, who are grappling with more immediate concerns. The site has to reflect the requirements of its broad audience, which means limited scope for deep 6G coverage. TelecomTV is also a sponsor-driven business model, and therefore vendor support for 6G coverage is only going to ramp up once standards are complete and commercial products are in the market.
Hence this Substack. I can continue to write about 6G (as I have for all previous generations of mobile) and those of you who have an early interest in 6G can follow here and (hopefully) subscribe. No sponsorship; no coverage restrictions.
I will cross post to TelecomTV as and when I think it is suitable.
A new community
“You are not just starting a newsletter when you start a Substack, you are starting a community,” says Substack. Well yes, I hope so! To be honest, I have no idea who will read this - but it will be fun to find out… I really want to encourage those outside the traditional telecoms industry to come and join us here - 6G is going to impact many industries and there will be opportunities for a huge range of products and solutions. Getting a head start on the 6G standards process is going to be very useful.
There’s also the problem of misinformation. We saw this with 5G, and the telcos themselves often didn’t help - exaggerated performance claims might have achieved short-term publicity, but they were detrimental in the longer term. This Substack is going to provide an honest take on 6G; it will avoid hype, add context and explain the implications of news.
Moving forward, I would love to create a healthy discussion forum around 6G. This may require a paid subscription. I am investigating, and will also listen to your feedback. For the moment, 6G Futures is a free publication and I hope you find it sufficiently interesting to subscribe.
What to expect
First: a weekly newsletter. That’s what I have been working on to date. We are now at a stage where there is sufficient genuine news to warrant a weekly publication. So that’s the first step: a weekly, news-based round-up. I am also going to include a sample of academic papers - ones which explicitly reference possible 6G technologies.
Second: backgrounders and industry updates. These will be on an “as and when” basis. Whilst the frequency will be quite low for 2026, I expect it to increase as we approach 2029 and the final stages of standardisation.
At some point: if I can find time to produce weekly commentary and opinion pieces, or deeper dives into the major news of the week, then I will add these to the schedule. Subscribing would give me the encouragement to get on with it!