Weekly Wrap: NATO Military 5G Conference highlights spectrum access as a key challenge

The event was part of the International Defence and Security Exhibition of Spain. Walking through the halls of the exhibition venue, IFEMA, the reality of a booming defence industry truly sinks in. Next to rocket launchers and the latest high-precision snipers, the exhibition’s true stars were in the tech hall. Crowds of people gathered around surveillance drones, autonomous ships, HAPSHigh Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) are … balloons and portable secure private network equipment.

The Military 5G Conference, organised by NATO’s Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), took place in the meeting rooms above these halls. NCIA’s Multinational Collaboration on 5G (MN5G) project was a key part of the event. Spain, Turkey and Italy, the three states participating in the project, presented their ongoing 5G projects.

A common concern for these countries is the lack of harmonised spectrum for their projects. The only NATO harmonised spectrum typically used for 5G is in the 26 GHz band, a band whose propagation characteristics are far from ideal for deploying a secure 5G standalone network for army exercises in a training field of several hundred square kilometres.

With all 5G bands assigned to civil use, a way forward for new harmonised bands seems difficult. Every country has its own system, and a coordinated response in times of crisis becomes very complicated. Can NATO play a part in solving this problem?

The NATO Joint Civil/Military Frequency Agreement (NJFA) is the treaty that regulates the military’s access to spectrum in NATO’s European member states. It has not been updated in several years. Member states need to take the initiative by proposing a certain band range to NATO, and then NATO will find out if there’s general support for the proposal.

All NATO states represented at the Military 5G conference use civil bands for their military 5G projects. Could there be a harmonised approach for this? At a NATO level, it seems unlikely. What about a 5G military network adoption roadmap? 

Despite the complex range of 5G issues facing the defence industry, there was plenty of enthusiasm in the room and several countries signalled their interest in joining the MN5G project. In the coming weeks, PolicyTracker will publish two stories that take a closer look at military 5G projects, the challenges they face and ongoing regulatory actions. Keep an eye out for them!

Here’s what else we’ve covered this week:

• The US Budget text mentions the reinstatement of the FCC spectrum auction authorisation but excludes the 3.1 GHz band from auctions.
• South Korea is amending regulations to enable satellite operators such as Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb to offer their services in the country.
• Shipping giant Maersk is upgrading from 2G to 4G by installing a private 4G network on 450 vessels.
• Canal+ has abandoned DTT in France, prompting the broadcasting and media regulator to investigate possible innovative uses of the spectrum.
• North Macedonia is preparing a spectrum auction that could pave the way for a third operator to enter the market.