With its ultra-capabilities and efficient mode of operation, 5G is playing a more and more significant role in national broadband services delivery and is an important means for countries to power their economies following the COVID-19 pandemic. Global 5G development is running at an unprecedentedly speed. By H1, 2023, according to the GSA, over 250 5G networks, 4 million 5G base stations have been deployed whilst the 5G users exceed 1.2 billion people and more than 2000 devices form the 5G ecosystem.
Considering the dense urban population and rapidly growing number of 5G users as well as surging data traffic across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the region needs even more mid band spectrum to address the forecast service demand in the coming years. According to the GSMA report “5G-Mid-Band-Spectrum-Needs-Vision-2030”, 2 GHz bandwidth of mid-band system is recommend for 2025-2030 period. Compared with other regions, given satellite usage, most of APAC countries only have 200-300 MHz available on 3.5 GHz band, thus the 700 MHz bandwidth that Upper 6 GHz (6425-7125MHz) can provide is critical. It is the only large contiguous bandwidth mid-band spectrum that can bridge the gap between the spectrum demands and existing legacy spectrum assignments.
More and more countries are considering Upper 6 GHz band for IMT usage in the future and some of the pioneer countries have started to explore the possibility of upper 6 GHz in future national wide IMT network deployment. Besides coverage tests using the upper 6 GHz band conducted in Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, France and Italy, TDRA the regulator of UAE, on 3 August 2023, announced successful completion of Phase II of advanced 5G trials (Project 5G-Advanced) using 400 MHz bandwidth in the 6 GHz band. It achieved the speeds of 10 Gbps, which will make a quantum leap in driving the digital transformation process and supporting the future economy ( https://tdra.gov.ae/en/media/press-release/2023/tdra-announces-successful-completion-of-phase-ii-of-advanced-5g-trials ). All the tests showed that the 700 MHz bandwidth of the upper 6 GHz band is a valuable frequency resource to address the demand for the APAC countries, which will suffer from a shortage of mid-band spectrum, in the coming decades.
For example, in its reply to the 6 GHz public consultation released by Singapore regulator IMDA, Singtel stated that with data usage for 5G surpassing 4G by 2025, more mid-band spectrum will be needed to support the increasing demand for 5G services in terms of capacity and throughput. Singtel proposes that the upper 6 GHz band 6425-7125 MHz, to be allocated for 5G mobile services. (https://www.imda.gov.sg/regulations-and-licences/regulations/consultations/consultation-papers/2023/public-consultation-on-proposed-allocation-of-6-ghz-band).
Some leading regulators are taking actions to secure the upper 6 GHz band for IMT for the benefit of their consumers. In June 2023, China released the new edition of the Regulations on Radio Frequency Allocation of the People’s Republic of China. In this new edition which will be implemented from 1 July 2023, the frequency band 6425-7125 MHz is identified for IMT. This update establishes the status of IMT spectrum identification in 6 GHz in the form of regulations at the national level. Hong Kong, SAR’s regulator OFCA has commenced public consultations on the release of the 400 MHz of spectrum within the upper 6 GHz range – targeting an auction in 2025. Those movement will help to stabilize the expectations of the cellular mobile industry, and encourage the development and innovation of mobile communication.
The last APT preparatory Group for WRC-23, APG 23-6 will be held in Brisbane Australia next week. More and more APT countries submitted contributions to support the 6 GHz band IMT identification. I note that half of the APT countries support the global IMT identification of 7025-7125 MHz, and 10 countries support IMT identification in 6425-7025 MHz in Region 3 or Region 1. This number will surely continue to grow over time.
All of the above momentum of upper 6 GHz band in APT shows that the consensus on upper 6 GHz band for IMT is gaining more and more attention. Consistent with Windsor Place Consulting’s updated October 2022 Report: Optimising IMT and Wi-Fi mid-band spectrum: The compelling case for 6 GHz band partitioning in Asia-Pacific and our APT Spectrum Management Series lectures on the 6 GHz band we strongly believe that APG 23-6 meeting is the right time to reach the APT common position of Upper 6 GHz band for IMT and pave the way of upper 6 GHz IMT identification at WRC-23. Such an approach is critical to ensure that the urban population of our region is able to enjoy high quality high speed wireless broadband services into the future.
By Scott W Minehane (scott.minehane@windsor-place.com)