February 13, 2017

Ofcom has published an update on 5G, as well as an overview of international spectrum developments and a programme of work.

Ofcom says that it expects pre-commercial deployments of 5G mobile services to begin around 2018, moving to commercial systems based on international standards by 2020.

5G will enable a diverse set of services and applications, which will require a mix of spectrum bands, combining both low and high frequencies.

As part of the update Ofcom highlights its plans for the bands identified by the Radio Spectrum Policy Group in its roadmap towards 5G for Europe. These include lower-frequency spectrum at 700 MHz, 3.4 – 3.8 GHz spectrum to provide capacity over short ranges; and spectrum at much higher frequencies in the 26GHz band, which it is promoting as a “pioneer band” for global harmonisation in advance of WRC-19 to give ultra-high capacity for large numbers of connected devices. To read Ofcom’s update in full, click here.