5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the publication of Spectrum Landscape for Mobile Services, a comprehensive technology whitepaper about the current spectrum environment and the future requirements for mobile services below and above 6 GHz.
“Countries and regions that want to be leaders in the new 5G wireless era will need to provide more licensed spectrum available to the mobile wireless industry. The time is now for the planning and allocation of harmonized spectrum in low, mid and high bands to help progress 5G,” commented Chris Pearson, President, 5G Americas.
The 5G Americas whitepaper analyzes the spectrum for mobile services needed for various use cases. It provides insight into the possible allocation of the spectrum by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for 5G and examines sharing, integration and allocation issues that will pave the way for a connected world. Furthermore, the paper highlights the action required to be taken by regulatory and standards organizations to make specific spectrum bands available for 5G.
The benefits of global harmonization are not limited to situations where all regions have identical spectrum allocations. These benefits can also be derived from “tuning range” solutions, in which adjacent or nearly adjacent bands can be considered harmonized so long as equipment can be reconfigured to operate over multiple bands. In considering spectrum allocations, therefore, 5G Americas suggests that policymakers consider not only frequencies that can be allocated domestically, but also the possibilities provided by such global tuning range solutions. Based on early 5G strategic plans described in the white paper, there are several immediate possibilities for global harmonization, considering the “tuning range” for bands 3.3-4.2 GHz, 24.25-29.5 GHz and 37-43.5 GHz.
Pearson added, “5G will be deployed on existing and future spectrum bands. Thus, there is an immediate need for regulators and government agencies to take actions in making sure that a reasonable amount of licensed spectrum becomes available for 5G deployments.”
5G Americas whitepaper Spectrum Landscape for Mobile Services captures the scope of the most important spectrum topics relevant to 5G such as:
- Spectrum needs for 5G applications
- Spectrum landscape for mobile services
- Necessary actions: regulatory, standards, industry, etc.
- International spectrum harmonization
- Opportunities for harmonization
- Necessary actions
Spectrum Landscape for Mobile Services was written by co-leaders Ahmad Armand and Scott F. Migaldi of T-Mobile USA and other 5G Americas member companies. The whitepaper is available for free download on the 5G Americas website.