The Netherlands has started live testing of a 600 MHz mobile network at the TU Delft campus, creating a practical environment for studying how 5G-Advanced can develop towards 6G. The site forms part of the Dutch National 6G Testbed and is one of five test locations planned across the country. The network currently operates using 5G-Advanced based on 3GPP Release 18 rather than a finished 6G radio system. So, now let us look into how Netherlands Tests 600 MHz as 5G-Advanced Builds a Practical Path Towards 6G along with Accurate LTE RF drive test tools in telecom & Cellular RF drive test equipment and Accurate Wireless Survey Software Tools & Wifi site survey software tools in detail.
This distinction matters from an engineering point of view. 6G specifications are still being developed, so operators and research teams cannot deploy a commercial 6G network today. Instead, 5G-Advanced provides a working radio platform where new coverage models, network resilience, automation and future use cases can be tested under real conditions.
Why test 6G development at 600 MHz?
Much of the early discussion around 6G has focused on higher-frequency bands that can provide very large bandwidth. The Dutch programme is examining another part of the network requirement: wide-area coverage and reliable connectivity.
At 600 MHz, radio signals can travel much further than signals at higher frequencies. They can also provide better penetration through buildings and physical obstacles. According to the Dutch 6G programme, the test infrastructure is capable of supporting trials across several hundred square kilometres.
This makes 600 MHz suitable for testing applications where coverage and availability are more critical than very high peak throughput.
Future 6G networks are likely to use several spectrum layers. Low bands can provide wide coverage, while mid-band and higher-frequency spectrum can provide additional capacity where required. Testing these different radio conditions before 6G deployment will help researchers understand how the layers can work together.
5G-Advanced provides the technical starting point
The Delft network uses 3GPP Release 18, which is recognised as the first release of 5G-Advanced. Release 18 extends 5G work in areas including MIMO, coverage enhancement, RedCap, AI and machine learning, network energy saving and radio performance.
This provides a logical transition towards 6G.
Rather than treating 5G and 6G as completely separate generations, research programmes can use 5G-Advanced to test network functions that may later become part of 6G architecture and radio design.
Electricity grid becomes the first test case
The first application being tested at Delft is real-time electricity-grid management.
The objective is to maintain local data communication between connected systems even when normal infrastructure is affected by a power or network failure. The project is designed to support local data exchange for up to 72 hours during an outage.
This type of application creates different network requirements compared with normal mobile broadband. Engineers need to study coverage stability, network availability, latency, recovery behaviour and communication performance during failure conditions.
The same approach could later support industrial IoT, emergency communications and other systems where continuous connectivity is required.
Spectrum coexistence still needs testing
Using 600 MHz for future mobile networks also creates a technical challenge.
The frequency range is already associated with services such as broadcasting and wireless microphones. Before wider mobile deployment can take place, engineers and regulators need to understand interference conditions and how different services can operate in the same or adjacent spectrum. The Dutch programme has confirmed that this coexistence issue still needs further work.
6G development is moving into field testing
The Delft project shows how 6G research is moving from technical studies into live network environments.
Commercial 6G is generally expected around 2030, but the radio behaviour, spectrum use and application requirements need to be tested much earlier. The Dutch national programme runs from 2024 to 2030 and includes work on radio components, AI-driven networks, applications and a national 6G testbed.
For network engineers, this also means future 6G development will require strong field validation: coverage measurements, signal quality analysis, interference testing, mobility testing, latency measurements, indoor testing and continuous network monitoring.
The 600 MHz testbed in the Netherlands is therefore less about demonstrating a finished 6G network and more about answering the engineering questions that need to be solved before 6G reaches commercial deployment.
About RantCell
RantCell is a mobile network testing and monitoring platform designed for 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi networks. It supports drive testing, indoor surveys, remote testing, continuous monitoring, network benchmarking and centralised analysis through maps, dashboards and reports.
The platform helps telecom teams collect network measurements across multiple devices and locations, automate repetitive testing, upload test data to the cloud and analyse performance from one connected platform. Also read similar articles from here.