The mobile industry's growing interest in mid–band spectrum—the traditional home of microwave—for access services is coinciding with more licensing of mobile backhaul in higher frequencies. In these higher bands, there is more bandwidth but propagation isn't as good. This weakness is offset by increased fibre in the core network. Read more...

The exploding number of satellite constellations, and growing national and international interest in a range of space initiatives from communications to climate change monitoring, have sparked a policy push to determine whether more spectrum is needed to power space activities and if so, in what bands. This research note considers… Read more...

PolicyTracker’s unlicensed 6 GHz benchmark now includes 83 nations and territories where unlicensed policies are either planned or in place. Seventy-seven per cent of nations in the benchmark have authorised or are planning to authorise unlicensed use of the lower 6 GHz range (5295/5245—6425 MHz). The remaining 23 per cent… Read more...

Nations across Africa continue to implement unlicensed 6 GHz policies that are largely focused on the lower portion of the band (5925—6425 MHz) in line with the African Telecommunication Union’s (ATU) recommended use of this range. In line with CEPT and European Commission harmonisation decisions, most European nations have opened… Read more...

Nations in the Americas and Asia continue to implement unlicensed 6 GHz policies. In the Americas, the typical approach is to open the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, whereas nations in Asia are focused on releasing the lower portion of the band from 5925 to 6425 MHz. This… Read more...

While nations have taken different decisions on opening the entire 6 GHz or the lower 6 GHz range for unlicensed use, there are also variations in policy approaches in terms of technical specifications for unlicensed operations and permitted modes of use and in relation to mechanisms used to implement unlicensed… Read more...

Maps and tables giving a global picture of planned and implemented 6 GHz policies. Read more...

Recently endorsed by the European Commission, the concept of cashless spectrum auctions is growing in popularity. But what is a cashless spectrum auction, and what do examples of this type of award reveal about its risks? Read more...

Proposed principles for 6G sustainable spectrum management have been met with a mix of positivity and scepticism. Read more...

While auctions are the default mechanism for awarding IMT spectrum—with the odd notable exception, such as Japan—they are not at all common for satellite. Read more...