The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many holiday-makers to cancel foreign holidays and stick to domestic "staycations". But two billionaires in the last month have foregone foreign trips altogether and chosen "space tourism" instead. Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos trips to space are emblematic of wider excitement about the satellite industry. Back… Read more...

PolicyTracker’s longest-running course, Understanding Modern Spectrum Management, features some of the leading thinkers in the field and is being held online this year on 13 - 17th  September. It is taught in live and interactive three-hour sessions with trainers including Professors Martin Cave, William Webb and Gerard Pogorel, as well… Read more...

Auctions may have become the default way to assign spectrum, but the last quarter saw just as many beauty contests. A total of 11,076 MHz of changed or new entries were included in the latest update to the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD), including an equal number of beauty contests and auctions.… Read more...

Don't miss our Valuing the Spectrum online course immediately followed by the Spectrum Auctions Masterclass being held in the third week of October. These two-day courses are essential for anyone involved in buying or selling spectrum licences and there is a discount for booking them together. Valuing the Spectrum is… Read more...

One of the clearest spectrum management trends in the last few years is the allocation of the 6 GHz band for licence-exempt/unlicensed services. With some notable exceptions (such as China), the vast majority of the G20 group, which represents around 90% of global economic activity, have made significant moves to… Read more...

The Spectrum Research Service now includes a benchmarking section featuring international comparisons on key policy issues. We start with 6 GHz unlicensed, an area of intense policy activity, following the US 2020 announcement to designate the whole 5925-7125 MHz band for unlicensed use. Some countries are following the US lead,… Read more...

One of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the postponement of many sporting events. The 2020 Olympics, for example, will take place this Summer 2021. Probably. During initial preparations for 5G, both the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were… Read more...

Spectrum managers have typically valued international coordination. Not only do radio emissions not respect borders, but a single country cannot possibly demand enough radio equipment to push down prices to make them widely affordable. When these problems are successfully solved, and countries move together on spectrum management, great things can… Read more...

What is the best way of ensuring that vertical industries can get access to 5G spectrum? That is a difficult question which may not have a one-size-fits-all answer. Is the solution: Requiring MNOs to provide services to verticals (France in 3.5 GHz)? Local licensing in reserved spectrum (Germany in 3.5… Read more...

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… Read more...