The recently completed 3GPP SA1 6G Study, captured in [TR 22.870], is a major milestone in identifying use cases and defining potential service requirements of the 6G system. With the study phase now complete, the Next G Alliance, 3GPP, and other key stakeholders in the telecom ecosystem are shifting their attention from comprehensive exploration to selective focus and market relevance. Within this context, the Next G Alliance’s Market & Applications Working Group (MAWG) conducted a structured review of the study outcomes to identify use cases and requirement areas of particular importance to North America. MAWG comprises a cross-industry-focused team that includes leading mobile network operators, chip vendors, network infrastructure providers, and application service providers (e.g., video, AI), some of whom contributed to this effort.

The 3GPP SA1 6G study [TR 22.870] captured approximately 161 use cases, 473 potential requirements, 243 consolidated potential requirements, and 22 KPI tables [SP-260271]. These use cases and requirements span a wide range of domains, including System and Operational aspects, Artificial Intelligence, Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC), Immersive Communications, Ubiquitous Connectivity, Massive Communication, and Industry and Verticals. They also cover additional emerging areas such as computing and other consideration areas such as sustainability impacts of use cases spanning across environmental, social, and economic aspects.

Notably, categories such as AI, ISAC, and verticals initially generated a high number of potential requirements, which were subsequently significantly consolidated. This consolidation underscores both the ambition of the original study and the need for selectivity and focus as the work progresses toward normative specifications.

Why Use Case Selection Matters

Given the breadth of TR 22.870, MAWG recognized the need to move beyond enumeration toward market-driven interpretation by identifying use cases of interest to North America and providing an initial prioritization of the selected use cases and requirements. This initial selection and prioritization was made with North American market, regulatory, and communications ecosystem considerations in mind.

System and Operation: High Priority

At the top of the priority list is System and Operation aspects, reflecting a strong emphasis on backward compatibility, scalability, and operational resilience as the industry transitions from 5G to 6G. High-priority system level capabilities include:

• Support for legacy services such as Mission Critical Services (i.e., MCPTT, MCData, MCVideo), Short Message Service (SMS), IMS Multimedia Telephony Service, and Emergency Services
• Satellite access, building on 5G NR NTN foundations
• Support for diverse device types, from smartphones and wearables to IoT devices
• Energy-efficient design including holistic energy efficiency improvements, spanning cooperation between both UE and network perspectives in the 6G system
• Security, privacy, and resiliency, including network digital twins (NDTs) and enhanced data collection, processing, and network exposure

This prioritization reflects a strong preference for evolutionary progress and operational robustness as foundational requirements for 6G adoption.

Artificial Intelligence: Strategic but Targeted Enablement

AI features prominently in TR 22.870, but this prioritization reflects a measured, use-case-driven approach rather than blanket enthusiasm.

Several AI-centric use cases are assigned medium priority, including:

• Built-in Intelligent Communication Assistants, enhancing services such as IMS-based communications including video calls
• AI-Native Networks with Flexible UE-Network Coordination, enabling adaptive service provisioning and delivery behavior
• AI Services, including AI/ML Training and Inference Hosted in the Network applied to cases such as in the agricultural sector

Meanwhile, more complex or exploratory scenarios — such as coordination between multiagent requiring data fusion across agents, especially for robotic applications — are rated medium-low priority, reflecting concerns around ecosystem maturity, governance, and deployment complexity.

ISAC: Focus on Critical Outcomes

ISAC use cases are prioritized selectively. Operator control of non-3GPP sensors is assessed as low priority, while sensing data collection, processing, and mission-critical sensing use cases are assigned high priority.

This distinction underscores a key theme: Value is derived from outcomes, not from control of infrastructure for its own sake. Priority is therefore placed on sensing capabilities that directly support safety-critical, industrial, and infrastructure-related applications where reliability, latency, and governance are essential.

Immersive Communications: Strong Market Momentum

Among new service domains, immersive, personalized, AI-enabled multimedia services are rated high priority. This reflects strong alignment with North America’s content, enterprise, and application ecosystems, as well as clear monetization potential.

Immersive use cases are seen as early beneficiaries of 6G due to their need for:

• Deterministic quality of experience
• Tight coordination between communication, compute, AI, and rendering
• Enhanced QoS handling and service exposure

These services are seen as strong candidates for early 6G differentiation.

Ubiquitous and Massive Communications

• Ubiquitous connectivity use cases are assigned medium to medium-low priority, with preference given to solutions based on only 3GPP technologies, including NTN to support timing and positioning services or to complement traditional GNSS capabilities.
• Massive communications, including utility infrastructure, wide-area IoT, and digital twins, are rated medium priority, signaling strategic importance tempered by deployment realities.

Vertical and Other Emerging Use Cases

Collaborative robotics, dynamic awareness, and computing/data-as-a-service use cases are mostly assigned medium priority, reflecting their early-stage nature and dependence on broader ecosystem maturity.

Table 1 summarizes the use cases selected from 3GPP SA1 6G Study and their priorities.

Table 1: Summary of Selected 3GPP SA1 Use Cases and their Priorities

Conclusion

The MAWG use case selection effort for North America demonstrates how a comprehensive global study such as 3GPP SA1 TR 22.870 can be systematically interpreted through a regional, market-aware lens. By emphasizing system evolution, immersive services, and mission-critical capabilities, while taking a measured approach to AI and emerging verticals, the effort signals a clear preference for deployable value, operational integrity, and standards-anchored progress as the industry moves toward the 6G normative phase. Standardization provides the foundation for unlocking 6G market opportunities, establishing a blueprint for scalable network infrastructure and device ecosystems. Aligned with the Next G Alliance 6G Vision, the MAWG is advancing analysis of the economic drivers necessary to enable sustainable market adoption in North America.