NTT DOCOMO is Japan's leading mobile operator, but it is also a key player on the world stage in 5G innovation.  With the government gearing up for the country's first spectrum auction, the operator has urged against giving excessive weight to the economic value of spectrum. Read more...

US-only carrier Verizon's 4G LTE network covers 98% of the US population and it expects to launch 5G wireless broadband services in several markets in 2018. Its current focus is on the 3.7-4.2 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 28 GHz, 29 GHz, 31 GHz and 39 GHz bands. It's also pressing for… Read more...

SoftBank and its US segment, Sprint, seek to lead the pack in 5G rollout, with Sprint preparing to launch a US 5G mobile network using 2.5 GHz in the first half of 2019 while the FCC reviews a proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. In Japan the 5G focus is… Read more...

Five years ago spectrum under 1 GHz was described as beachfront spectrum on the basis that it was the most valuable spectrum property available. Subsequently hype around 5G shifted regulators’ focus to mmWaves, and but in the last year, mid-band frequencies have attracted more and more attention. Read more...

India's population is widely dispersed across the country, where only a small proportion of the population lives in areas with a low population density (less than 25 people per km2). Almost half of the population live in 'built-up' areas which are widely spread around the country but concentrated mostly in… Read more...

Is it time to reassess the contribution of different spectrum uses to the wider economy? In the second article of this series, Dianne Northfield argues that there are new factors which need to be taken into account. Read more...

With commercial deployment now very close our spectrum database has been updated to reflect the ownership of licences in potential 5G bands. Some existing licences can be used for 5G and some cannot, depending whether the service is fixed or mobile. A further complication is that in some cases a… Read more...

The ability to use 26 GHz for 5G is limited by the need to protect satellite earth observation services in 24 GHz. But what are the engineering issues behind this? Independent consultant Roberto Ercole explains how they affect the commercial prospects for the band and could influence operators as they… Read more...

November 2017 marked the half-way point between WRC-15 and WRC-19, the regular inter-governmental meeting tasked with amending the Radio Regulations. In a series of Research Notes, we take stock of global preparations for the meeting. This Note explains how the process works and we examine the agenda items in detail… Read more...

This Research Note looks at agenda items contained in Chapters 1 and 2 of the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) Report, principally new spectrum for High Altitude Platforms (HAPS); the identification of frequencies for some transport applications; extending the 5GHz Wi-Fi band; and terrestrial and satellite coexistence around 2 GHz. The… Read more...