Can mmWave, sub-THz, and THz bands fuel 6G growth? Explore the spectrum strategy reshaping business, policy, and competitiveness.
The question we put forth is sharper than ever. Can current wireless ecosystems truly sustain the next decade of data growth? Video-heavy consumption, AR-powered collaboration, autonomous systems, and industrial IoT are pushing existing spectrum to its limits. Incremental upgrades will not be enough.
Millimeter-wave, sub-terahertz, and terahertz frequencies are no longer niche technical conversations—they are strategic levers for competitiveness, national security, and economic growth.
Table of Contents:
Why existing spectrum is no longer enough
Millimeter-wave today
Sub-terahertz as the bridge
Terahertz potential
Is the race about technology or ecosystem readiness
Strategic imperatives for leaders
The future belongs to orchestrators
Why existing spectrum is no longer enough
Mobile traffic grows at double-digit rates year after year. In 2024, Cisco estimated global mobile data would triple by 2030, and early 6G testbeds confirm the strain is accelerating faster than forecast. Enterprises that depend on seamless bandwidth for critical operations already feel the pinch. The conventional assumption—that mid-band spectrum will scale with demand—no longer holds. By 2025, the industry will accept that only higher frequencies can unlock the capacity needed for a hyper-connected economy.
Millimeter-wave today
Advanced 5 G rollout already uses millimeter-wave. It provides searing speeds in congested spaces like airports, football stadiums, and intelligent cities. But its shortcomings are apparent. Limited in range, highly subject to blockages, and expensive infrastructural overhead costs have caused the executives to wonder whether mmWave is merely a temporary device or, instead, is a scalable tool. Context is the response.
mmWave offers a real solution to city connectivity with intelligent beamforming, small cell densification, and AI-based optimization. It is by no means a stand-alone factor, but the first evidence point of high-frequency success.
Sub-terahertz as the bridge
The intermediate is in sub-terahertz frequencies. They offer an improvement on mmWave in range and more speed than is currently deployed. In the discussion of early 6G trends, by 2025, this band is considered the spectrum sweet spot in balancing performance and coverage. The discussion amongst executives becomes tactical. Would it be wise for the enterprises to start now, even when standards and regulations are not in place, or wait until they are clear?
The first-movers attain their patents, Research & Development, and vertical applications, including high-precision manufacturing and high-performance healthcare imaging. Postponement could conserve capital, but it can be disastrous in losing market share to be left to more rapid rivals.
Terahertz potential
The terahertz frequencies stand at the edge of wireless. They promise near fiber performance without wires, and this has the potential to bring use cases that were never possible. There are big obstacles: underdeveloped software, excessive use of energy consumption, and unresolved regulatory systems. But already, South Korean governments and telecom moguls like those in the U.S. are investing heavily. Technological innovation in terahertz and in EU spectrum policy is being led by DARPA and indicates that a race is ongoing between geopolitical and commercial leaders.
The lingering question is: Will terahertz continue with the trend of being just another technology that lingers in the research laboratory until the 2030s, or will it rise in the next three to five years because there is a breakthrough in the chip industry and photonics?
Is the race about technology or ecosystem readiness
Executives often wonder whether faster frequencies can guarantee advancement. No, because the spectrum is as potent as the ecosystem in which it is located. The capability of the adoption scale then depends on devices/chipsets, antennas, AI-driven management, and regulatory alignment. Even when it comes to the quickest bands, without an end-to-end approach, they bring minimal business value. The actual competitive benefit is the orchestration of ecosystems – creating alliances, aligning to leverage industry standards, and accelerating beyond pilots.
Strategic imperatives for leaders
To C-suites, the topic of spectrum strategy is no longer telecom-only. It is a business turning point. The leadership should work on several dimensions:
- Influence policy through participation in the national and international spectrum allocation discussions.
- Focus on pilots that are in verticals where bandwidth is strategic, such as autonomous logistics to telemedicine.
- Strike a sensible compromise between short-term mmWave growth and distant evolution on terahertz R&D.
- Restructure connectivity as a source of a new revenue model and not a cost of doing business.
In thinking about spectrum as a cost of infrastructure, executives may lose a sense of spectrum as a driver of growth.
The future belongs to orchestrators
The story is very obvious. Convergence of effort in the use of millimeter-wave systems, sub-terahertz systems, and terahertz states is not focused on speed, but intelligent, adaptive, ultra-capacity networks.There will be no credit to a leader by looking at how fast his/her networks are, but more on how leaders can orchestrate the spectrum in terms of creating business value by the year 2030.
Foresight is the second wave of the wireless. The leaders will be those who will synchronise the spectrum strategy with business transformation in general. Dependents on the splintered methods will be faced with time-consuming complexity and marginalized by the more nimble competitors.
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