Current 6G Trajectory is Evolutionary, According to Dell'Oro Group
6G RAN Capex to Reach $0.5 T by 2034
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new 6G report from Dell'Oro Group, a trusted source of market intelligence for the telecommunications, security, networking, and data center industries, 6G development is progressing rapidly. The report's base-case scenario envisions 6G as an evolutionary technology that builds on Massive MIMO, the existing site grid, and wider channel bandwidths to deliver step-change improvements in RAN 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. "At the same time, operators are in a much stronger position today from a network capacity perspective than they were during the transition from 4G to 5G. As a result, cumulative 6G RAN revenue during the first six years of the cycle is projected to be 10 to 20 percent lower than during the comparable period of the 5G cycle."
Additional highlights from the June 2026 6G Advanced Research Report include:
- 6G RAN is expected to scale rapidly, with cumulative RAN revenue and wireless capex during the first six years projected to exceed $100 B and $500 B, respectively.
- 6G is not expected to expand the overall RAN market. Instead, the baseline scenario projects the broader RAN market to grow at a 1 percent CAGR between 2030 and 2034.
- Both Sub-7 GHz and cmWave spectrum bands are expected to play important roles in 6G deployments, although momentum behind spectrum above 7 GHz continues to build.
- Cumulative 6G RAN investments between 2029 and 2034 are projected to account for approximately half of total RAN capex during the same forecast period.
Dell'Oro Group's 6G Advanced Research Report offers an overview of the RAN market, including tables showing total RAN revenue by technology (2G-6G) from 2000 to 2034. 6G RAN is analyzed by spectrum (Sub-7 GHz, cmWave, mmWave), by Massive MIMO, by RF Power (Macro, Micro, Pico), and by region (North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, China, Asia Pacific Excl. China, and CALA). To purchase this report, please contact us by email at [email protected].
Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, enterprise network, data center infrastructure, and network security markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell'Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit https://www.delloro.com/.
SOURCE Dell'Oro Group
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