Ericsson reinforced its position as the driving force behind the global 6G ecosystem at Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2026. As the journey towards 6G continues, the industry is moving from 6G concept to commercial preparation, Ericsson’s presence across major 6G announcements during MWC, and in its cutting-edge demos reflects how leading device, silicon and compute partners are working with the company to validate foundational technologies and accelerate ecosystem readiness for AI-native 6G.
Ericsson is the engine that drives the 6G ecosystem forward and is engineering the AI-native, globally scalable foundation that the rest of the industry depends on to innovate. The deep ecosystem engagement shows that Ericsson’s technology is where the industry is converging to move 6G from research into real, deployable networks.
Ecosystem progress depends on interoperable, end-to-end technology, making Ericsson’s technology central to moving 6G from research toward commercialization. This step-by-step journey starts with 5G Standalone and 5G Advanced as we move toward an intelligent fabric that requires AI everywhere in each domain and layer across the full network. This means integrating intelligence directly into radios, powered by Ericsson Silicon. It also means incorporating AI in all other aspects of a network, from RAN Compute and software, through transport, OSS/BSS, management and the core network. Working together, these AI elements will empower our customers to develop autonomous networks, a vital part of the journey to eventual 6G.
By building intelligence into every layer, Ericsson is delivering the enhanced uplink and energy-efficient performance required to support GenAI, agentic AI, and physical AI applications. This progression is reflected in Ericsson’s foundational ecosystem work at MWC.
- Ericsson and Intel are collaborating to accelerate AI-native 6G across compute, connectivity and cloud, spanning AI-driven RAN and packet core use cases plus platform security.
- As a founding premier member of the Linux Foundation’s OCUDU initiative, Ericsson is contributing architectural guidance and advancing a portable, open-source CU/DU software stack to accelerate US leadership in wireless innovation.
- Ericsson is joining NVIDIA and partners to advance AI-native, open platforms that embed AI across the RAN, edge and core to strengthen security and trust for physical AI.
- Ericsson is participating in a strategic industry coalition with Qualcomm, announced at MWC, that sets a milestone-driven roadmap toward 6G commercial systems starting from 2029 onwards.
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Erik Ekudden, Group Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson, says: “We are already on the journey toward an intelligent fabric, and it is happening right now. With clear proof points across the entire network, we are proving that a fully AI-powered network is not a distant capability five years out. By bringing intelligence into every domain today, we are giving the industry the foundation it needs to scale the next generation of AI.”
The critical hub for the 6G device ecosystem
Building on the open architecture, it is essential to ensure devices and networks are interoperable as commercial 6G is targeted for 2030. At MWC 2026, Ericsson served as the anchor for the device ecosystem, providing the pre-standard systems that device makers depend on to validate their technology:
- Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies validated foundational 6G physical-layer capabilities in lab prototypes, including cmWave exploration around 6–8 GHz to highlight enhanced uplink performance.
- Ericsson and MediaTek integrated 6G testbed radio with a MediaTek user equipment prototype, completing a data call that validated new 6G features designed to reduce latency at scale and meet the data demands of AI-enhanced extended reality (XR).
- Ericsson and Apple demonstrated live Multi-RAT Spectrum Sharing between 5G and a simulated 6G system, showing a smoother migration path without resource waste.
The message to CSPs: Get ready for 6G now
With the first implementable 3GPP specifications targeted for 2029, Ericsson’s work with partners is building the interoperability proof points CSPs will need to deploy 6G with confidence. The foundation of the 6G intelligent fabric is already being laid today through implementation of 5G Standalone, 5G Advanced, and network APIs. Ericsson will continue to shape standards and deepen ecosystem collaboration, ensuring the industry is ready to deliver on the full promise of 6G.
To explore the roadmap to commercialization and the opportunities ahead, watch the MWC 2026 panel discussion, How to make 6G a winning proposition, featuring Ericsson alongside industry leaders from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Qualcomm.
