Qualcomm argues that additional spectrum for both exclusively licensed 5G and 6G operations and unlicensed use cases is needed to support growing demands and generational mobile technology advances. It considers that the emergence of 6G opens the door to transformative opportunities across all spectrum bands — low, mid and high… Read more...

The majority of nations with mmWave policies and plans are targeting 26 GHz spectrum and, to a lesser degree, spectrum in the 28 GHz band. Across the regions, there is also limited, if growing, interest in the release of spectrum in other mmWave bands, particularly in the 40 GHz range.… Read more...

mmWave policy developments in Europe are predominantly centred upon the release of spectrum in the 26 GHz range, often for both IMT and private network use. Recently, there has also been more evidence of regulatory consultations and demand surveys examining the potential use of spectrum in the 40 GHz range… Read more...

Several nations in Europe have future plans to launch mmWave spectrum consultations with a long-term view to assigning spectrum across a range of bands. In addition, several nations in the region that have conducted mmWave consultations have deferred plans to release high-band spectrum resources largely due to finding little demand… Read more...

mmWave policies in Asia are focused on the release of spectrum in both the 26 GHz and 28 GHz ranges – in a number of nations in the region, spectrum is assigned in both bands. Several nations in the region have local licensing policies in support of private networks. To… Read more...

In the Americas, the focus of mmWave policies is on the release of 26 GHz and 28 GHz under regional and, to a lesser degree, national licensing frameworks. To date, mmWave spectrum for use on a localised basis by private networks has only been assigned in Canada and Brazil. Read more...

In Africa and the Middle East, there remains limited interest in the release of mmWave spectrum for 5G/IMT or localised use. While several regulators in these regions have consulted on mmWave awards, few concrete mmWave policies have been implemented to date. Where there are active mmWave policies in place, regulators… Read more...

As the number of nations around the world assigning mmWave spectrum grows steadily, if slowly, nations are adopting a diverse range of policy approaches. There is wide variance across both the amount of bandwidth (MHz) released and in the mmWave frequency ranges and sub-ranges targeted by different regulators. Policies also… Read more...

This shows the technical details for awarded and planned licences. Other tabs show maps and charts. See also the detailed analysis in our mmWave benchmarking section Read more...

While all of the vendors profiled in 2024 recognise the continued importance of both low-band and mmWave spectrum for both 5G and 6G, their clear focus is repurposing existing low mid-band spectrum and the release of new licensed spectrum in frequency ranges above 7 GHz. The greatest disparity in vendor… Read more...