| Edition 02 | 19 August 2026 | Series: Foundations |
Release 20 has a full set of freeze dates and not one of them applies to 6G. The dates that do bind 6G were agreed on 10 June 2026 in Singapore, and they belong to Release 21. Here is the whole ladder — and the two places where it does not line up.
| Quarter | Track | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 TSG#112 | SA / CT | Rel-21 timeline agreed; TR 38.914 v1.0.0 approved done |
| 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 ⚑ freeze |
| Q1 2027 TSG#115 | SA / CT | Rel-20 Stage 3 freeze (SA/CT) · Rel-21 package + 6G work items approved (Stage 1 freeze) ⚑ freeze |
| Q2 2027 TSG#116 | RAN | Rel-20 RAN4 performance |
| Q2 2027 TSG#116 | SA / CT | Rel-20 ASN.1 & OpenAPI freeze |
| Q3 2028 TSG#121 | RAN | Rel-21 RAN1 functional freeze |
| Q3 2028 TSG#121 | SA / CT | Rel-21 SA Stage 2 complete |
| Q4 2028 TSG#122 | RAN | Rel-21 RAN2/3 & RAN4-core functional freeze ⚑ freeze |
| Q4 2028 TSG#122 | SA / CT | Rel-21 Stage 3 freeze (SA/CT) ⚑ freeze |
| Q1 2029 TSG#123 | SA / CT | Rel-21 ASN.1 & OpenAPI freeze |
Transcribed from 3GPP’s published Release 21 timeline (© 3GPP 2026). Rel-20 is the 6G study phase; Rel-21 is the first 6G normative release.
2 yrs Rel-21 approval → ASN.1 freeze | 14 6G studies live at TSGs#112 | Sep 2026 Next real 3GPP gate |
TSG SA plans Rel-20 as two explicitly separate tracks — Rel-20_5GA for 5G-Advanced enhancements and Rel-20_6G for the 6G studies — so working groups can move resource between them without renegotiating the release. Puneet Jain, TSG SA Chair, set that split out in the SA planning note.
The consequence is the single most misread thing about Rel-20. The freeze dates published on the Release 20 page are the 5G-Advanced ladder. The 6G track produces Technical Reports, and a TR does not freeze — it completes, at whatever date its work item record says. An implementer who plans 6G against Rel-20's Stage-3 date is planning against the wrong release.
| Milestone | Date | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Jun 2025 — frozen | Service requirements |
| Stage 2 (80%) | Jun 2026 — passed | System architecture |
| Stage 2 freeze | Sep 2026 | System architecture |
| Stage 3 freeze | Mar 2027 | Protocol detail |
| ASN.1 / OpenAPI | Jun 2027 | Testable specification |
September 2026 is the next real deadline in 3GPP — but it is a 5G-Advanced deadline. The 6G studies running alongside are untouched by it.
On 10 June 2026, at the TSGs#112 plenaries in Singapore (8–12 June, Sands
Expo, 590+ delegates), all three TSGs approved the Release 21 timeline. The agreement is carried
in three parallel documents — RP-260868 for RAN, SP-260595 for SA,
CP-261259 for CT. That is the first time 3GPP has put a date on 6G specification
delivery. The ladder is in the table at the top of this edition.
One date to treat with care
3GPP's published Release 21 graphic places Rel-21 SA Stage 2
complete around the Q2–Q3 2028 boundary; the Rel-21 timeline news item gives
June 2028. The two are reconcilable but not identical, and we have not yet read
SP-260595 directly. Treat mid-2028 as the planning figure and do not quote a month
with confidence. Every other rung — Q1 2027 approval, Q4 2028 Stage-3 freeze, Q1 2029
ASN.1 — is consistent across both sources.
Exactly two years separate Rel-21 package approval from its ASN.1 freeze — Q1 2027 to Q1 2029 — and a first-generation release must do inside that window what later releases do with a settled architecture underneath them. There is no slack anywhere in the ladder.
The awkward fact of this release: the studies outlast the start of the normative work they are supposed to feed. Rel-21 package approval is Q1 2027. The radio study is not finished then.
| Study | Ends | vs. package approval |
|---|---|---|
| FS_6G_Radio 38.760-1–4 | 4 Jun 2027 | 3 months late. WID RP-261559. RAN1 part held by Shinya Kumagai (NTT DOCOMO). |
| FS_6G_SEC, FS_6G_OAM, FS_6G_CH | 6 Jun 2027 | 3 months late |
| CT stage-3 24.860, 29.840, 29.842… | Sep 2027 | 6 months late |
| FS_6G_ARC 23.801-01 | 3 Mar 2027 | In time — an input, not concurrent work |
This is not an error in the plan; it is how 3GPP absorbs schedule pressure. Normative drafting begins against a study's agreed conclusions rather than its published version, and the TR is finalised alongside. It does mean that between March and September 2027 the same technical question can be live in two documents at once, with the normative one moving faster.
September 2026 is a 5G-Advanced gate only. Q1 2027 changes the nature of the work — contributions stop being study input and start being specification text, and the window to influence a study conclusion closes ahead of it, not on it. Mid-2028 is when 6G architecture stops moving. Q1 2029 is the earliest a conformant implementation can be built against a stable specification — which is what makes the pre-2030 IMT-2030 submission arithmetic work at all, with nothing to spare.
The next plenary round is September 2026; the December 2026 plenaries are hosted in Boston, 7–11 December. Any change to the ladder would surface there first.
TR 22.870, part one — the six use case families that define what 6G is being asked to do.Sources
Daily Dose of 6G — tracking 3GPP Release 20's 6G study phase, one study at a time. Timeline after 3GPP's published Release 21 schedule.