Study Group 6 is responsible for standards relating to outside plant and related indoor installations in telecommunication networks. The Study Group assembles world-wide experts, from developed and developing countries, to produce operational guidelines on the construction and installation of optical and copper cable (both marine and terrestrial), installation of roadside cabinets and cable-carrying poles. SG 6 also looks at how to protect equipment from environmental impact, and outlines procedures for personnel safety.

Recent standards (ITU-T Recommendations) from SG 6 give network operators the ability to more accurately benchmark optical node products, and for manufacturers the standards give simplified conformance testing which will speed-up the process of tendering and ordering for them.

In the last study period SG 6 produced a number of new standards. It also produced a handbook detailing how to protect telecommunication facilities from fire, and another on marinized terrestrial cables. This study period, besides the production of new Recommendations - including one on the use of radio frequency identification RFID in outside plant - SG 6 is working on the revision of a number of texts, including its popular handbook on construction, installation, jointing and protection of optical fibre cables.​​