5G trials are to launch in five Italian cities in 2018, with several operators planning to launch a commercial service by 2020. Most of the country's 5G efforts are focused on the 3.4-3.8 GHz band. Read more...

After what seemed to many like a long delay, Canada is now preparing to follow the US in auctioning spectrum in the 600 MHz band. Its government also launched a consultation this year on using spectrum in some higher bands for 5G. Read more...

Swedish regulator PTS has been planning to assign the 700 MHz to mobile operators for some time but suffered a setback in late 2016 when the award was delayed due to "security concerns". However, it now seems to be back on track and the authority is also planning to assign… Read more...

US-only carrier Verizon's "spectrum evolution" involves redeployment of refarmed spectrum, adding unlicensed and shared mid-band spectrum, and enabling mmWave by 2020. It says its spectrum portfolio has more than enough capacity to take it through 4G into 5G. Read more...

US and Mexican operator AT&T is investing heavily in expanding its network capacity and in securing the spectrum needed to meet its long-term needs. It is also shifting spectrum used for 2G to its 3G and 4G networks as it moves toward 5G. Read more...

Japan's SoftBank and its US segment Sprint "see tremendous opportunity in mobile 5G, massive machine type communications, and ultra-reliable and low latency communications." Sprint is aiming for commercial 5G rollout in late 2019, SoftBank in 2020. Read more...

Deutsche Telekom's new strategy is to become Europe's leading telecoms provider. Its spectrum priorities remain focused on, among other things, spectrum for 5G, longer licence terms in Europe and more flexibility in spectrum use. Its US subsidiary, T-Mobile, won 45 per cent of the 600 MHz spectrum sold in the… Read more...

ZTE is trialling pre-commercial 5G technologies both below 6 GHz and in the millimetre waves Read more...

Japan assigns spectrum by beauty contests rather than auctions and has recently released 3.5 GHz. It is heavily invested in 5G and has been working on the technology since 2010. Read more...

(2016 entry) China Mobile is the world's largest 4G operator in number of subscribers, operating in mainland China and Hong Kong. It is focused on 4G deployment. For 5G, it prefers spectrum below 6 GHz for 5G services, with the C band a priority. Read more...