Assigning 700 MHz: a global overview

Switzerland 700 MHz, 1400 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz

Ireland 700 MHz

Research Notes

Global overview of 700 MHz spectrum assignment 24 January 2018
Steady progress is being made in releasing 700 MHz for mobile with 30 auctions anticipated over the next three years. Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas are the furthest advanced but few definite plans have been made in Africa or central Asian countries.

Japan 12 January 2018
Japan will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2020 and the country plans to use the event as a showcase for new technologies such as 5G. As a result, both its government and its operators are very active in testing the technology.

China 12 January 2018
China’s government and its three mobile network operators (MNOs) are actively preparing for 5G. The MNOs expect to launch commercial services by 2020.

When should merging mobile operators be required to divest spectrum? 8 December 2017
Talk of a merger between US carriers T-Mobile and Sprint came to nothing but stimulated lots of discussion about how much spectrum they would have to give up. This made us wonder: do merging operators always have to give up spectrum?

News articles

AT&T jettisons 600 MHz band spectrum 25 January 2018
US telco AT&T has agreed to sell all of its remaining 600 MHz band holdings, leaving T-Mobile as the only operator to roll out mobile broadband in the frequencies.

Mobile industry accused of inconsistency over 5G power limits for WRC-19 24 January 2018
ITU-RThe International Telecommunication U... Task Group 5/1 (TG5/1), which is developing sharing parameters for Agenda Item 1.13 of WRC-19 – the 5G agenda item – has set forward a representative base station power level of 48 dBm as the power level that should be used in sharing studies.

Indian court finds no 2G licence “scam” but case isn’t over yet 23 January 2018
A 21 December ruling by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court acquitted all defendants of allegations that the Indian telecoms ministry undersold 2G spectrum and took bribes in 2008. The allegations led to the cancellation of 122 licences by India’s Supreme Court in 2012.

Longer spectrum licences don’t necessarily drive operator investment, study finds 19 January 2018
Regulators seeking to balance flexibility in telecoms licensing with some degree of certainty for investors about spectrum tenure are considering the issue of licence duration, Ovum analysts say. All things being equal, a longer licence does offer more certainty but it’s by no means the only factor in minimising investment risk.