3GPP sets first 6G device types and uplink modulation for Release 21

At its September plenaries in Madrid, 3GPP agreed on initial 6G reference device types for massive IoT, eMBB and FWA, and raised uplink modulation to 1024-QAM for FWA. Constellation shaping was left out of Release 21 due to diverging evaluations, while 5G-to-6G migration options move to December.

• Three initial 6G reference device types: massive IoT, eMBB and FWA, one per UE
• Uplink modulation for FWA raised to 1024-QAM for capacity
• Constellation shaping excluded from Release 21 after differing evaluations
• 5G-to-6G migration options and 6G Core work pushed to December