Although not necessarily as lucrative as some previous mobile generations, 4G has successfully put the smartphone into the center of everyday life in the industrialised world. Watches, torches, taxis, cameras and even cash appear to have entered the dustbin of history during the 2010s. But as we turn over to… Read more...

The mobile industry often congratulates itself for creating a unified standard for 5G that is defined by 3GPP. This drives economies of scale and avoids the technology fragmentation that undermined previous generations of mobile technology. But when it comes to spectrum strategies, the initial approaches of leading operators were quite… Read more...

Understanding Modern Spectrum Management, being held in Central London from 20-23 April, is an ideal opportunity to examine the latest policy and technical questions. For newcomers to the field it will bring you up to speed; for experienced practitioners it is a chance to examine the implications of recent developments… Read more...

Perhaps the most spectacular aspect of spectrum policy is the spectrum auction. They involve large amounts of money changing hands and create "winners" and "losers". Operators and regulators spend a lot of resources making sure they get what they need from these events, and preparations for them often dominate spectrum… Read more...

Manuel Marti is in Sharm el-Sheikh and has written this excellent article. Yet to be confirmed in the plenary but it seems the basis for a deal is there.   Read more...

In the UK, the Labour Party's shock announcement of a part-renationalisation of BT is the strongest sign yet of wider political shifts with major industry implications. Read more...

WRC-19, an international conference in an Egyptian beach resort, is attracting attention from some of the world's most important figures in politics and business. Even US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to delegates explaining its importance for 5G. Our annual update to our profiles of mobile vendors' spectrum policies… Read more...

In the past few months, we have tried to explain how spectrum management and policy has evolved in the past 100 years, why some approaches have become dominant and set out today's "hot button" policy issues. The result is our new e-book: Spectrum management and policy which is now available for download. It… Read more...

Spectrum managers from all countries and industries are currently gathered at the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to amend the Radio Regulations, the treaty governing the international use of spectrum. The satellite industry is perhaps more dependent on global harmonisation than any other, and its spectrum policy advocates are… Read more...

It's not spectrum auctions that have produced most of the updates in this quarter's PolicyTracker Spectrum Database (PSD). The last quarter of 2019 saw 817.4 MHz of new or changed assignments, but roughly only a quarter (220 MHz) of these came from new awards. Although regulators around the world are… Read more...