T-Mobile CTO says carrier will be first to launch 6G in the US

T-Mobile targets first US 6G launch

T-Mobile chief technology officer John Saw said the carrier intends to be the first operator to launch 6G in the United States.

Saw made the statement during T-Mobile's third-quarter earnings call, where the company reported that service revenue increased 6 percent year over year (YoY).

The call focused heavily on artificial intelligence and its growing role at T-Mobile, but analysts also asked about the company's preparations for future data traffic and 6G.

Preparing for 2030 traffic

Saw said T-Mobile expects mobile traffic in 2030 to remain primarily downlink-focused, while becoming increasingly dependent on uplink capacity. He attributed that shift to the growth of AI usage, AI wearables, AI agents, and physical AI devices, including humanoid robots, delivery drones, vehicles, and factory machines.

"For 2030, we plan a traffic profile that’s still downlink heavy, I think, but increasingly uplink rich, driven by the rise in AI usage, AI wearables, AI agents, and also the explosive growth by then of physical AI devices like humanoids, robots, delivery drones, vehicles, and factory machines, etc," said Saw.

He added that 6G networks would be built in 2030 and said T-Mobile would be the first company to offer 6G in the US.

Saw did not provide a specific launch date. The technology is widely expected to arrive around 2030.

If T-Mobile achieves that goal, it would mark a change from the previous generation. Verizon launched the first US 5G service in 2018, while T-Mobile was the first US carrier to introduce 5G Standalone (5G SA), launching it in 2020.

Sensing and uplink capacity

Saw also identified integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) as an important 6G application. He said 6G base stations and radios could function as radar and sensing systems, enabling use cases such as remote sensing.

"I think 6G will be the first G where the base stations and radios behave as radars, as sensors, unlike the previous Gs. So that opens up a lot of new use cases with remote sensing, etc., that I think is going to drive a lot of usage as well," said Saw.

He described radio uplink performance as another major focus for 6G, particularly as physical AI systems and AI agents become more common.

Saw linked that development to T-Mobile's 5G Advanced plans, which include uplink carrier aggregation, uplink MIMO, transmit switching, diversity, and higher-power uplinks.

"This is why 5G Advanced matters. This is why we roll out the country’s first and only 5G Advanced network with uplink enhancements like uplink carrier aggregation, uplink MIMO, transmit switching, diversity, and higher power uplinks."

Upcoming spectrum auctions are also expected to support future capacity. Saw said the C-Band auction planned for next year and the 2.7GHz auction planned for 2028 will help T-Mobile increase capacity for 6G and expand uplink bandwidth.

T-Mobile's third-quarter results

T-Mobile reported $19.4 billion in service revenue for the quarter, up 6 percent YoY. Postpaid service revenue rose 9 percent to $16.3 billion.

The carrier added 274,000 postpaid net accounts during the third quarter, a 3 percent increase compared with the same period a year earlier.