T-Mobile appears to be testing Nokia's 6G equipment (2025)

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The FCC granted a request by T-Mobile to test "experimental prototype wireless equipment" from Nokia in and around T-Mobile's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. The Nokia equipment runs in the 7125-7525 MHz band, and T-Mobile said the tests would "support the advancement of potential future wireless technologies."

That's the same band that Nokia is using to test its 6G equipment at its Dallas headquarters.

Moreover, US officials and wireless network equipment vendors have identified the 7GHz and 8GHz bands as ground zero for new 6G networks.

"The new spectrum block at 7.125 – 8.400GHz is important for 6G radio deployments for providing 10-20 times more capacity and higher data rates while reusing existing base station sites," wrote the 5G Americas trade association in a recent report on 6G. "Advanced beamforming, higher order MIMO configurations in both base stations and user equipment, and higher amount of spectrum are all relevant for boosting radio coverage and capacity on the new spectrum blocks. High power exclusive usage of the new spectrum can provide greatest benefit in terms of radio performance while spectrum sharing scenarios are also considered for flexible and rapid utilization of the new spectrum."

T-Mobile's filing is also noteworthy in light of rumors that T-Mobile will dump Nokia as one of its wireless equipment suppliers, following in the footsteps of and Verizon. If T-Mobile is indeed testing Nokia's 6G equipment in its Bellevue headquarters, that would presumably signal a major vote of confidence in the vendor.

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A T-Mobile official declined to comment on the company's FCC filing.

It's also worth noting that T-Mobile has been working with AI vendor Nvidia, alongside its existing 5G vendors Ericsson and Nokia, on an AI-powered view of 6G.

The details

In its FCC filing, T-Mobile did not specifically say what the tests would be for, nor did it mention 6G specifically.

The tests, T-Mobile said, "will serve the public interest because it will enable T-Mobile to explore the development of potential future spectrum options for evolving wireless technology without causing harmful interference to others. That, in turn, will help further promote the delivery of next-generation wireless services to consumers."

The testing will span two fixed basestations and a maximum of five mobile devices, all from Nokia. Transmissions will be limited to distances of 2 kilometers, and T-Mobile will test both fixed and mobile scenarios. Interestingly, the filing hints at "experimental Massive MIMO radios antenna arrays," but doesn't provide details.

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T-Mobile filed a similar request for Nokia equipment running in the e 6889-7289MHz band.

Nokia, for its part, offered almost identical language in its own testing request, covering equipment in its Dallas headquarters. "Nokia is seeking authorization to carry out experimental research and development activities using prototype wireless equipment in the 7125 - 7525MHz frequency band," the company wrote in its December FCC application. "This request is specifically for the advancement of 6G technology and aims to facilitate the exploration of innovative wireless communication concepts and solutions. The research aims to contribute to advancements in areas such as band segmentation, innovative frequency sharing mechanisms, and beam forming technologies and more."

Like T-Mobile's filing, Nokia said it would test basestation sites and mobile devices, and that signals from its Massive MIMO radios wouldn't stretch beyond 2 kilometers.

The context

The global wireless industry has officially begun work on 6G technologies through the 3GPP standards body, initially through a study project aimed at setting objectives. The 3GPP's Release 21 batch of specifications is expected to standardize 6G radio access network (RAN) standards by 2029. The group hopes to finish Release 19 sometime this year.

Related:6G course correction: Vendors hear MNO pleas

Last month, the 3GPP held a 6G workshop to start industry discussions of its study item for the group's Release 20. (The 3GPP issues specifications in batches, or "releases," about once per year.)

"The 6G workshop focused on various aspects of the upcoming 6G technology standardization, spanning eight sessions over two days," explained Qualcomm's Juan Montojo in a recent post. "These include two joint plenary sessions, five parallel radio access network (RAN) and system architecture/core network & terminals (SA/CT) working sessions and a concluding summary session at the end of the workshop. To keep the meeting efficient, only one contribution per company per topic was allowed to be submitted and presented. These sessions focused on the vision and priorities for the Release 20 6G study item."

According to TelecomTV, Apple was one of the companies that presented its early 6G vision at the workshop. The iPhone vendor questioned whether "extremely high peak data rates" should be considered as a useful key performance indicator (KPI) for 6G development, according to the publication. Instead, Apple wants the focus shifted to metrics that users actually experience: Consistent coverage, better battery life, reduced latency and enhanced security.

"Hopefully, lessons were learned from 5G, and 3GPP can come up with a suitable list of 6G features the industry really needs and operators really plan to deploy, else history is destined to repeat itself," summarized the analysts from Signals Research Group (SRG). 5G has been criticized as too complex, and released too early.

Finally, the SRG analysts noted that early 6G buzz centered on communications in the terahertz (THz) spectrum bands. But no longer: "Very little mention of THz spectrum," the analysts wrote of the 3GPP's recent 6G workshop. That too is a nod to the relative failure of 5G in similar millimeter wave (mmWave) bands.