Weekly Wrap: Who’s coming to the party?

A committee has published draft rules for an auction of 26 GHz, with the contest itself scheduled to take place by the end of the fiscal year (March 2026).

Japan has taken the long road to this point. It has discussed auctions several times over the years. The country came closest to introducing them in 2012 when the government submitted a bill to amend the country’s Radio Act. The bill failed to become law.

However, earlier this year the Radio Act was finally amended to enable auctions for frequencies above 6 GHz.

The draft rules propose a single national 26 GHz licence as well as regional licences. Japan has four MNOs. They are only allowed to bid for the national licence. That potentially sets up competitive bidding.

But the choice of 26 GHz for the country’s first auction is curious. The first award of the band was in South Korea in 2018. There have been many other awards since. Yet no country has discovered a compelling service for 26 GHz frequencies. The frequencies are simply not in demand.

Plus, Japan’s operators are not in a must-buy situation. They were assigned 28 GHz frequencies in 2019 (via a beauty contest) and have subsequently invested in networks. However, traffic levels are low. The incentive to bid aggressively for 26 GHz is unclear. Unless they feel like celebrating the occasion of Japan’s first auction, holding out for an award of mid-band spectrum such as 6 GHz or 7 GHz might be a better strategy.

Here’s what PolicyTracker covered this week:

• US satellite operator Lynk has announced plans to merge with German company Omnispace in a bid to gain access to more satellite spectrum.
• Australian regulator ACMA is considering introducing an automatic frequency coordination (AFC) system in the 5925–6585 MHz band.
• Japan has published draft rules for a forthcoming auction of 26 GHz frequencies, which will be the first in the country’s history.
• European countries and satellite operators have similar views on WRC-27The World Radiocommunication Conference (W… agenda item 1.5, which deals with new measures for unauthorised satellite terminals. A “no change” position is likely.
• New Zealand’s regulator is proposing hybrid licensing in the 26 and 28 GHz bands, which involves licensing IMTInternational Mobile Telecommunications (I… only in urban areas as well as spectrum sharing between IMT and satellite services.