Spectrum Above 6 GHz – December 2019

Spectrum Above 6 GHz.

This report provides a snapshot of the global status of national usage of spectrum above 6 GHz for 5G services. It is part of a series of reports which separately also cover spectrum bands below 1 GHz and between 1 GHz and 6 GHz.

This report reflects a market that is in constant fl ux and feedback is greatly appreciated to keep it current. Please send comments and information to research@gsacom.com.

Key statistics:

• Sixty-seven operators in 13 countries hold licences enabling operation of 5G networks using mmWave spectrum.
• Fourteen operators are known to be deploying 5G networks using mmWave spectrum.
• Fourteen countries have announced formal (date-specifi ed) plans for allocating frequencies above 6 GHz between now and end-2021.
• Fifty-nine announced 5G devices explicitly support one or more of the 5G spectrum bands above 6 GHz (though note that details of spectrum support is patchy for pre-commercial devices). Eleven of those devices are known to be commercially available.

5G deployments in bands above 6 GHz

Spectrum bands above 6 GHz are being explicitly opened up to enable provision of 5G services. GSA is aware of the following usage for 5G. The 24250–29500 MHz range covering the overlapping bands n257 (26500–29500 MHz), n258 (24250–27500 MHz) and n261 (27500–28350 MHz) has been the most-used 5G mmWave spectrum range to date:

• 113 operators in 39 countries are investing in 5G (in the form of trials, licences, deployments or operational networks) across this spectrum range
• 66 operators are licensed to deploy 5G in this range
• 12 operators are understood to be actively deploying 5G networks using this spectrum.

Band n260, covering 37000–40000 MHz, is also already being used, with three companies in the USA actively deploying networks using this spectrum.

In addition:

• Eight operators in seven countries have reported running 5G tests/trials at 15 GHz.
• One operator has reported running 5G tests/trials at 18 GHz.
• Thirteen operators in eleven countries have been evaluating/testing/trialling 5G using spectrum from 66 GHz to 76 GHz.
• GSA has identified four operators that have run tests/trials using spectrum from 81 GHz to 87 GHz.

©2019 GSA

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