A week of RAN WG meetings, attended by over 1500 experts, started with a minutes silence in remembrance of our colleague Carolyn Taylor, who passed away in December (See “In Memory of Dr. Carolyn Taylor”). Moving tributes were heard in the meeting rooms and also during a beautiful ceremony held aboard the Lyron ship, off the Goteborg coast.

During the week, the five RAN Working Groups continued progress on 5G Advanced specification work, with the attention now clearly on Release 20 features, with Rel-19 now complete and only subject to maintenance and post freeze technical enhancements.

The early stages of the 6G RAN effort are now well underway, with the first two RAN study items progressing steadily. The first, the 6G Scenarios and Requirements SID, will result in the Plenary-level report TR 38.914 (expected mid‑2026). The second is the 6G radio study in WG RAN1, which will explore the potential for a new “6GR” access technology. This study, due in early 2027, aims to address how 6GR will further advance the use cases and requirements identified in TR 38.914.

In March (9-12), the TSG RAN plenary (TSG RAN#111) will meet to approve the progress made this week, during the RAN Working Groups, hosted in Goteborg, Sweden.