Daily Dose of 6G

Edition 26

2 October 2026

Mission-critical in 6G: carry it over, then simplify

SA6’s mission-critical study merged two proposals: carrying today’s MCPTT, MCData and MCVideo services into 6G, and simplifying the architecture behind them. It is still early, but the first priorities are known.

In 60 seconds

Merged study: MC architecture evolution plus 6G capabilities for MC services. SA plenary approved it in Q1 2026.
Early priorities: session connectivity, QoS, slicing, migration between generations, and service continuity during failures.
32 use cases from the SA1 6G study may affect the MC application layer.
About 5% complete as of June 2026. Due mid-2027.

SASA6 · TR 23.801-03

One study from two

The work item, “Study on MC architecture evolution and 6G capabilities for MC service” (FS_MCX_MC, WID SP-260173), runs from March 2026 to June 2027. It is led by Martin Oettl (Nokia). Mark Lipford of FirstNet Authority describes it as two items that were combined and approved by the SA Plenary. One evaluates simplifying the current MC architecture. The other assesses MC services over 6G.

The Release 20 study register lists it as FS_MCS_6G. The work item record uses FS_MCX_MC.

SASA6

What the study will look at first

Zahid Ghadialy (3G4G) reports the early priorities: session connectivity, QoS characteristics, network slicing, migration between network generations and MC service continuity during failures. Thirty-two use cases from TR 22.870 have been identified as possibly affecting the MC application layer.

The features 6G inherits come from Release 20 5G-Advanced MC work, which FirstNet summarises:

Discreet listening: an authorised person can remotely listen to an ongoing situation without action from the responder, for example in a hostage situation.
Logging and recording of MC services.
Multi-hop relay: MC services over up to two additional relays, UE-to-UE and UE-to-network.

FirstNet says it advocated in SA1 to include existing MC services in the 6G study, so that public-safety features carry over.

SAFS_MCX_MC

Status

Still open

About 5% complete as of the June 2026 plenary, per FirstNet. Completion is expected mid-2027 because of dependencies on other working groups: the MC design has to wait for SA2’s core architecture and RAN’s migration decision.

The report rapporteur on the specification record is Rana Alhalaseh.

Watch next

SA2#178 and RAN#114: the architecture and migration decisions MC depends on.
SA6 Prague (12–16 Oct): first key issues on MC service continuity during failures.

Sources

Mark Lipford, FirstNet Authority — “June 3GPP meetings mark beginning of 6G era for public safety” (merger, 5%, timing)
Zahid Ghadialy — “How 6G Is Being Shaped for Mission Critical Communications”, 18 Jul 2026 (priorities, 32 use cases)
FirstNet Authority standards team, Urgent Communications, Aug 2025 (Rel-20 MC features)
3GPP — Release 20 (study register)

Status and priorities are as reported by FirstNet Authority and 3G4G.