- SoftBank could potentially have initial 6G services available in 2029 or 2030
- They will use a massive 400 MHz chunk to operate the services
- A SoftBank deputy director told us that they could potentially run at 7 GHz
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2026, BARCELONA – Japanese operator SoftBank Corp expects to deliver its initial 6G service sometime in 2029, the carrier told Fierce Network during an interview at Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona.
Koichiro Furueda, deputy director of the Wireless System Development Department at the Wireless System Innovation Division at SoftBank said that he expected to deliver 6G services - potentially at 7 GHz - on a 400 MHz slice initially. That more than doubles the most extreme 5G offerings, which use 190 MHz chunks of spectrum and below that.
Furueda thinks that physical AI, automotive vehicles and sensing will be important apps for the early 6G services. "We build infrastructure for society," he stated.
Much like Tejas Networks yesterday, SoftBank is promoting some use cases for 6G that were originally expected to arrive with 5G, such as autonomous vehicles. We guess what's old is new again.
AI at the edge
Diving back into SoftBank's more general AI and 5G standalone advances, Mauro Goncalves Filho, SVP of AI-RAN at SB Telecom America Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp commented that "the journey we are in is all modernizing the company...to be ready for society where AI is more important."
This will involve SoftBank installing more AI at the edge, "closer to the demand," Filho said. The company will work with vendors like Ericsson and Nokia to place AI edge infrastructure nearer to people who need speedy access for their AI queries while also situating the infrastructure close to suitable power sources.
Read all of our coverage from Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona here.