5G Americas said that releasing more licensed spectrum for the wireless industry is critical for U.S. leadership in technology, mobile communications and the economy
The rollout of 5G-Advanced and future 6G networks will required the development of a comprehensive roadmap for new commercially available spectrum, according to a new white paper published by 5G Americas dubbed ‘The Evolution of 5G Spectrum’.
Chris Pearson, president at 5G Americas, said: “Releasing more licensed spectrum for the wireless industry is critical for U.S. leadership in technology, mobile communications and the economy. An industry roadmap for more spectrum helps ensure effective deployment of future networks and drive the emergence of groundbreaking technologies.”
According to the white paper, the upper mid-band spectrum, ranging from 7.125-15.35 GHz, is key to leveraging existing infrastructure for increased capacity. 5G Americas emphasizes that identifying new spectrum is integral to a U.S. National Spectrum Strategy pipeline, ensuring rapid commercialization.
“5G Americas supports the 7.125 to 15.35 GHz spectrum range, especially below 10 GHz, for licensed mobile operations for its balance in capacity and coverage. Opening bands in this range involves exploring relocations and sharing strategies. Additionally, mmWave bands are important for deployments in dense locations like urban cores, transportation depots, busy streets, and entertainment venues, and also for fixed wireless access deployments. Sub-THz bands offer very large bandwidths that may be suitable for specialized use cases,” said work group co-leader Aleksandar Damnjanovic, principal manager at Qualcomm Technologies .
5G Americas noted that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)-2030 has codified various usage scenarios that form the basis for spectrum needs. These scenarios highlight the necessity for high data rates and wide-area coverage for applications like immersive experiences, next generation healthcare monitoring, human-machine interfaces, and Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS).
“In response to an expected fourfold cellular network traffic increase by 2028, the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference recently decided to identify spectrum in the 4.4-15.5 GHz range for future wireless technology deployments. The wireless industry needs access to more spectrum to support new applications like XR, connected cars, and the metaverse,” said work group co-leader Brian Olsen, senior manager of technology development and strategy at T-Mobile US.
5G-Advanced is expected to introduce many new features that can help operators monetize their 5G networks, Dimitris Mavrakis, senior research director at ABI Research, previously told RCR Wireless News.
“These include advanced support for extended reality (e.g. virtual reality, cloud gaming, augmented reality), better performance for existing networks, advanced positioning capabilities, enhanced sidelink and new device types that include sensor-based devices , more advanced capabilities and industry-specific devices,” the analyst said.
Mavrakis also noted that 5G-Advanced introduces new network management and deployment capabilities, including enhanced coverage, network performance and most importantly, the capability to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to manage the network.
He also explained that 3GPP Release 18, which is branded as 5G-Advanced, will be frozen in March 2024. “So we should expect relevant features to start appearing in the market end-2024 with additional commercialization in 2025 and after,” Mavrakis added.
