5G Spectrum Recommendations

Spectrum is the lifeblood for mobile, which means it’s also the lifeblood for all of the mobile applications and services upon which nearly every person and business depends. New spectrum is critical for the success of fifth-generation (5G) terrestrial mobile service. Globally, there are significant on-going activities to identify suitable spectrum, including bands that can be used in as many countries as possible to enable global roaming and economies of scale.

This paper provides an overview of the dependencies between the 5G applications spectrum requirements and spectrum ranges in the Mobile Service that may be attractive for deployment of 5G services (Section III). It also covers recent regional and global developments regarding spectrum for 5G (Section II). In considering spectrum allocations, both based in the ITU-R list of WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.13 bands, and non-ITU identified spectrum, policy makers should consider not only frequencies that can be allocated domestically, but also the possibilities provided by such global ‘tuning range’ solutions (section IV).