Vendor profiles update: a wide range of 6 GHz views

The ITU-R’s Director, Mario Maniewicz, channeled the spirit of former US President John F Kennedy at the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance’s Global Summit this week.

“Ask not what spectrum and satellite orbits can do for you, but what you can do for spectrum and satellite orbits”, he told delegates. His hope is that countries focus on using the least amount of spectrum to provide a satisfactory service, and that they use the latest technological advances to help them do so.

It is hard to disagree with such a sentiment. But what the deployment of the latest technology means in the context of spectrum management is a subjective exercise. This is because an allocation to one type of new and promising technology is a missed opportunity for another equally new and promising technology.

As shown in our updated profiles of vendors, which are available to Spectrum Research Service subscribers here, arguments about new technology can serve different purposes. If you ask Intel, Qualcomm, Cisco or Apple, they would praise Administrations such as the US and Saudi Arabia that make the whole 5925 – 7125 MHz available as it enables Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7.

But Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, and Samsung would argue that the upper 6425 – 7125 MHz range should be made available to mobile operators so they can deploy 5G, as might well be done in much of Europe and Africa.

Deploying the latest technology in the service of spectrum efficiency may be a challenge. But as John F Kennedy said himself, “life is never easy“.