The GSMA expects 6G networks to carry 2.4 billion connections worldwide by 2035, according to the industry body's latest long-range forecast reported by Punch Newspapers.

The projection anchors what is likely to be a decade-long standards and deployment cycle. If the figure holds, 6G would reach roughly the scale that 5G reached in the mid-2020s — but only after standardization, spectrum allocation and commercial rollouts run their course across developed and emerging markets alike.

What does the forecast actually measure?

The 2.4 billion figure counts connections, not subscribers or unique users. A single person with a 6G phone, a connected vehicle and an industrial sensor link could account for multiple connections. GSMA Intelligence, the association's research arm, uses the same methodology for its widely cited 5G trackers, so the 6G number should be read as a measure of network attach points rather than human adoption.

The 2035 horizon matters as much as the total. It implies the industry body sees meaningful 6G scale arriving roughly a decade after the first commercial launches expected around 2030, consistent with the adoption curves of previous generations.

Where does 6G standardization stand?

No 6G standard exists yet in final form. The 3GPP, the body that writes the specifications behind every generation since 3G, has only begun mapping the work plan for what will become Release 21 and beyond. The International Telecommunication Union is expected to define the requirements — the IMT-2030 framework — before vendors freeze radio and core specifications later this decade.

That timeline means the GSMA forecast rests on assumptions about spectrum awards, device ecosystems and operator capex that remain unresolved. National regulators, including the US FCC and several European administrations, have opened consultations on candidate 6G bands, including upper mid-band and sub-terahertz spectrum, but no market has scheduled auctions.

How should operators and vendors read this?

For mobile network operators, the projection offers a planning reference rather than a call to action. The 2.4 billion figure suggests 6G will be a genuinely global technology, not a niche deployed in a handful of advanced markets, which in turn shapes long-term investment cases for spectrum portfolios and network architecture.

For vendors, it signals a predictable replacement cycle: equipment refresh demand arriving in the 2030s as operators retire early 5G hardware. Vendor marketing around 6G capabilities already circulates at industry events, but the GSMA number is a deployment forecast, not an endorsement of any claimed performance target.

The Punch Newspapers report carries the projection without additional regional breakdowns, so the distribution of those 2.4 billion connections across markets such as Nigeria, the wider West African region or Asia remains unspecified. The GSMA publishes detailed generational forecasts in its Mobile Economy series, where fuller market-level data typically appears.

With first 6G specifications expected around 2028–2030 and early commercial networks to follow, the industry now has a quantified end-state: 2.4 billion connections by 2035, per the GSMA's outlook.