With Egypt's three mobile operators having refused 4G spectrum licences, and the regulator considering whether to offer the spectrum to international players, the GSM Association (GSMA) has urged both sides to settle their differences. But whether any telecoms company outside Egypt will want to enter the market appears questionable. Read more...

Before Qualcomm’s global president urged industry and policymakers to avoid spectrum fragmentation this week, PolicyTracker spoke to the vendor’s European president Enrico Salvatori about accelerated timescales for 3GPP releases, Europe’s 5G focus and SDL’s role in the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT). Read more...

A very popular 4G band, primarily providing capacity in urban areas with the possibility of becoming a 4G/5G transition band. Read more...

ACMA has published a discussion document on proposed changes to its Radiofrequency Plan, which was last updated in 2013. According to ACMA, in addition to reflecting updated international arrangements, changes proposed to the Spectrum Plan include: updates reflecting domestic changes that have occurred over the past four years;correction of a… Read more...

Speaking at a telecoms industry summit, the president of Qualcomm said mid-to-low band spectrum will be the focus of 5G, while a top Huawei executive said Europe should be backing 28 GHz. Read more...

Internet giant Google is a strong proponent of unlicensed spectrum, sharing and dynamic spectrum access. It has urged the wireless industry to work together on coordination and coexistence mechanisms. Read more...

South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed and certified a geolocation spectrum database, with the country moving towards making its spectrum management more dynamic. Read more...

Spectrum availability is the biggest challenge facing the radio access network (RAN) in connection with 5G, according to around one-third of 800 telecoms industry executives surveyed for a new report. Read more...

The European Commission’s proposal seeks to turn the regulatory body into a fully-fledged agency tasked with reviewing EU member states’ spectrum assignments. Read more...

A National Audit Office (NAO) report concludes that it was a desire to save money that led the UK government to try something that with the exception of South Korea, which has a much better geographic LTE coverage, has not been tried anywhere else in the world – running an… Read more...