2–8 November 2026. No 3GPP decisions were made this week; the news was company and industry-body claims ahead of the Calgary meetings (16-20 November), including China Mobile's application programme, CAICT's view of 6G architecture and GSMA's spectrum push.

How the industry reads it

Selected press and company statements with our reading. These are claims by the named source, not 3GPP decisions.

China Mobile launches 6G agent-application programme

China Mobile announced a '6G Intelligent Application Co-creation Action' and said less than 30 months remain before the 6G standard is frozen. It wants application requirements such as agent connectivity and agent authentication to 'pull' network design during standardization. Our reading: the 30-month figure fits the Release 21 schedule, but the capability list mirrors topics China Mobile already pushes in SA2 and SA3. It looks like industrial policy to build a 'real demand' argument before SA2#178; the report does not say how much of the funding is new money.

Source: China Mobile, chief engineer Wang Xiaoyun, at the Mobile Network Conference in Guangzhou (6 Nov), via Xinhua and China News Service · vendor · news.cn, chinanews.com.cn

CAICT says 6G architecture is 'basically shaped'

CAICT said the first international 6G standard is due in the first half of 2029 and that industry has reached 'staged consensus' on the architecture. Our reading: in fact SA2#177 in Prague adopted only interim principles and postponed the architecture choice to SA2#178 in Calgary. The statement either prepares a domestic audience for a compromise or presents as agreed something that is not. Nothing can be judged until Calgary; the timeline itself matches the approved Release 21 schedule.

Source: CAICT, vice-chair Wang Zhiqin, press conference (4 Nov) · industry association · thepaper.cn

SA3 6G security study covers ten areas

The summary says the SA3 study TR 33.801-01 covers ten areas, from radio and core security to AI agents and sensing privacy. It keeps 5G authentication as the starting point, with the USIM remaining the trust anchor, and runs to 2027. Our reading: this restates official material rather than a new decision. It does settle that the USIM stays, and agent authentication being its own topic links directly to the SA2 architecture dispute.

Source: Analyst Zahid Ghadialy, Free6GTraining (1 Nov), summarizing a presentation by Mirko Cano Soveri at the ETSI Security Conference · analyst · free6gtraining.com

Qualcomm shows 6G device prototype in Shanghai

Qualcomm said its prototype matches the latest 3GPP definitions and was used in interoperability tests with China Mobile and ZTE, with a peak near 14 Gbit/s measured over a cable connection. Our reading: no normative 6G specification exists yet, since Release 21 Stage 3 is due in December 2028. 'Conforming to 3GPP' can only mean RAN plenary agreements and working assumptions that may still change, and the 14 Gbit/s figure says little about real performance. Device makers are already building on a 400 MHz channel, which adds pressure on RAN4.

Source: Qualcomm, at CIIE Shanghai (5 Nov), via China News Service · vendor · chinanews.com.cn, eet-china.com, sdxcentral.com

GSMA puts a 1.24 trillion dollar value on 6G, ties it to spectrum

GSMA claims 6G could add 1.24 trillion dollars to the world economy in 2040, with up to 520 billion at risk without enough spectrum, and argues that 6G is designed around 200 MHz per operator. Our reading: this is lobbying ahead of WRC-27, and the model's assumptions cannot be checked from press material. 3GPP approved channel widths up to 400 MHz but set no minimum operating bandwidth, which GSMA presents as settled fact.

Source: GSMA, report 'Vision 2040: The Economic Benefits of 6G' (5 Nov); RCR Wireless Analyst Angle (3 Nov) · industry association · gsma.com, rcrwireless.com, telecomtv.com

What's next

  • Next working group meetings: 16–20 November 2026 in Calgary, Calgary, Canada, Calgary, CA (CT1#164, CT3#150, CT4#138, RAN1#127, RAN2#136, RAN3#134, RAN4#121, RAN5#113, SA1#116, SA2#178, SA3#131, SA4#138, SA5#170, SA6#76, CT6#128).
  • Next plenaries: CT#114 (Boston, 7–8 December 2026); RAN#114 (Boston, 7–10 December 2026); SA#114 (Boston, 8–11 December 2026).
  • Next milestone: ITU-R WP 5D #54: submissions of IMT-2030 (6G) radio interface proposals begin, February 2027 (planned).

Maintenance in the Work Plan and specification catalogue: 23 specifications added to a release.