3GPP Release 20
3GPP Release 20 — the 6G study phase, group by group. 29 catalogued studies across SA, RAN and CT — what each one is deciding, who holds the pen, and what is still open.
29
Catalogued studies
3
Complete
Mar 2027
Rel-21 package approval
Roughly half of Release 20's working-group effort goes to 6G studies; the other half continues 5G-Advanced. The two tracks are planned separately as Rel-20_5GA and Rel-20_6G, which is why the freeze dates published on the Release 20 page do not apply to 6G at all. A Technical Report does not freeze — it completes, on whatever date its work item record gives.
The studies feed Release 21, the first normative 6G release, whose package is approved at TSG#115 in March 2027. Release 21 in turn feeds the IMT-2030 submission to ITU-R, whose window opens February 2027 and closes February 2029.
Agreed terminology across all three TSGs: 6GR (6G Radio), 6G RAT, 6G RAN, 6GC/6G CN, 6GS (the end-to-end system), and aNB — the 6G base station, as named in the RAN3 literature.
There are no 3GPP 6G frequency bands
Band definitions are normative work, and the first 6G work items are approved at TSG#115 in March 2027. Every candidate range in circulation — 6.425–7.125 GHz, 7.125–8.4 GHz, 14.8–15.35 GHz, "FR3 = 7.125–24.25 GHz" — belongs to a regulator, a vendor or a journal. None of them is a 3GPP band.
Studies on the critical path, actively contested, or blocked waiting on another group.
| Quarter | Track | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 TSG#112 | SA/CT | Rel-21 timeline agreed; TR 38.914 v1.0.0 approved |
| Q3 2026 TSG#113 | SA/CT | Rel-20 SA Stage 2 complete |
| Q4 2026 TSG#114 | RAN | Rel-20 RAN1 functional freeze |
| Q1 2027 TSG#115 | RAN | Rel-20 RAN2/3 & RAN4-core functional freeze |
| Q1 2027 TSG#115 | SA/CT | Rel-20 Stage 3 freeze · Rel-21 package and 6G work items approved (Stage 1 freeze) |
| Q2 2027 TSG#116 | RAN | Rel-20 RAN4 performance |
| Q2 2027 TSG#116 | SA/CT | Rel-20 ASN.1 & OpenAPI freeze |