With the 5G era approaching, there is a growing interest in spectrum sharing. But what are the economic benefits? Why is it seen as necessary? Can it improve technical efficiency without damaging incumbents? How could it work in practice? These are just some of the questions addressed in our signature Understanding Modern… Read more...

Over the past few months we have reported on the discussions about protecting earth observation services in 24 GHz against interference from 5G in 26 GHz. The latter is one of the most widely-supported 5G candidate bands under discussion at WRC-19 and has been identified as a 5G pioneer band… Read more...

There is a brilliant line-up of key opinion-formers at the 23nd Annual Spectrum Summit on 4 July in Lichtenau, Germany and PolicyTracker subscribers can receive a free pass! Read more...

This Research Note focusses on satellite agenda items in WRC-19, principally the removal of a restriction on broadcasting-satellite services and improving spectrum access for movable earth stations and non-geostationary satellites. The USA, Canada and the Asian and European regional groupings support the removal of some of broadcasting-satellite service limitations but African… Read more...

WRC-19 will consider identifying 11 possible bands between 24-86 GHz for 5G and opinions so far show that two are receiving the most backing: 26 GHz and 40 GHz. However, support for 26 GHz  is subject to ongoing studies regarding downlinks for earth observation data and the range of frequencies… Read more...

Which approaches to spectrum policy will work best for 5G? That is the question addressed by a European Commission study published today. Study on Spectrum Assignment in the European Union was written by PolicyTracker together with LS Telcom and VVA. The report covers 5G services aimed at traditional mobile customers as… Read more...

Our research notes this week discuss how views on 5G bands have coalesced since WRC-15, giving an overview of Tier One bands like 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz, 26 GHz and 28 GHz,  where large-scale deployment is expected over the next five years. Tier 2 bands, where deployment is expected in five to ten… Read more...

PolicyTracker classifies 5G bands as first tier, second tier, third tier and experimental based on the likely deployment timescale, within five years being the quickest. Today we are concentrating on the experimental category. The enormous practical difficulties of providing services even in the lower reaches of mmWave were highlighted this… Read more...

If Europe can overcome its fragmentation issues at 3.4-3.8 GHz, it will have more suitable 5G spectrum in this band than the US, which is adopting the innovative CBRS approach. Read more...

3GPP’s Release 15 will probably bear the “5G stamp”. This means that there is nothing to stop marketers calling LTE and LTE-advanced technology included in the final documentation “5G” when it is approved around the end of 2018. Read more...