Ofcom continues to improve its local licensing regimes and working towards a mmWave auction, while also considering new policy objectives put forth in the recently announced UK Wireless Infrastructure Strategy. Read more...

Sectoral regulator Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is the body with primary responsibility for spectrum management, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country's competition regulator, has emerged as a significant force too. Read more...

Lynk is developing a satellite-direct-to-phone service that re-uses terrestrial spectrum to enhance coverage. Despite global regulatory uncertainty about this strategy, the company recently received a commercial licence to launch its service outside of the US. Read more...

Auction procedures have been used in Italy to assign usage rights for the 3.4 GHz, 800 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.6 GHz and L-Band and for 5G frequencies – 700 MHz, 3.6 GHz and 26 GHz. In 2023, policy planning is focused on the future use of the lower… Read more...

Germany is still considering how to assign 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.6 GHz licences which expire in 2025. The country's new fourth operator 1&1 has requested an "industry assignment" instead of an auction, yet some have raised doubts about the new entrant after its failure to hit rollout targets. Read more...

Historically associated with using beauty contests to allocate mobile spectrum, Japan took a major step towards staging its first auction in 2022. Read more...

Telenor Group is a leading telecoms firm in Nordic countries and Asia with 158 million mobile subscribers in 2022. It has set out a comprehensive approach to spectrum and is engaged with 5G issues, stating that 5G business models and use cases aren't yet clear. Read more...

China Mobile remains the largest mobile operator in the world, with 975.5 million subscribers in January 2023. This includes 622.5 million 5G package customers, according to its monthly customer data. It continues to be a strong player in mobile cloud computing, 5G-related R&D activities and commercialisation, 5G standard-setting and 6G… Read more...

Deutsche Telekom (DT) continues to work toward its goal of becoming the "leading digital telco" by converging its fixed and mobile networks. US subsidiary T-Mobile USA remains focused on building out its 5G network. DT is intensively engaged in Open RAN activities and 6G research. Both telcos are working to… Read more...

Japanese operator SoftBank is a segment of the SoftBank Group, which describes itself as a "capital provider driving the Information Revolution". It says it has been at the forefront of key technical shifts, from computers to the internet and from broadband to smartphones. Its focus now is on the "next… Read more...