The decision by Ofcom has already been welcomed by the technology industry. The regulator is now consulting on proposals for the design of the auction for city-wide licences, the licence conditions for city-wide and local mmWave licences and how it will coordinate users of this spectrum.
Elsewhere in the UK, in so-called low-density areas, it expects deployments to be sparser, so it will assign local licences on a first-come, first-served basis. In the UK’s major towns and cities, where it expects the highest volume of mmWave deployment, Ofcom said it would assign local licences on a first-come, first-served basis, using its Shared Access licensing framework, and award city/town-wide licences by auction. There will be marked differences in licensing depending on location. It will begin the process for the 26GHz band later in 2023, once it has determined which fixed links are likely to receive interference from new users. It decided to start a statutory process to revoke licences authorising fixed links in the 26GHz band which are likely to receive harmful interference from new uses and all of the existing block-assigned licences in the 40GHz band. Looking at the expected roll-out of mmWave networks, Ofcom said the first step was the need to clear the incumbent fixed wireless links, which will not be able to coexist with mobile technology in the new spectrum.
mmWave networks will need to be densified to provide reliable coverage, which will require significant investment.Īs part of what it says is a proactive approach to making mmWave spectrum available to enable investment in faster, better quality services and innovation, Ofcom believes that making the 26GHz (24.25-27.5GHz) and 40GHz (40.5-43.5GHz) bands available for new uses at the same time will maximise the spectrum’s potential to benefit for people and businesses. Yet despite the clear potential for mmWave, there are technical challenges that will be faced in deployment, such as the fact that signals cannot travel very far and can be easily blocked by obstacles. Operators are also likely to want to acquire mmWave spectrum for enterprise private network deployments, to connect high volumes of devices that need high bandwidth connectivity, such as the industrial internet of things (IoT) and smart healthcare across a controlled environment. In May 2022, as it revealed its proposals to open a consultation, Ofcom said its principal aim was to enable opportunities for a wide range of users and applications across the country to access mmWave spectrum for new use cases that had the potential to deliver significant benefits by enabling large increases in wireless data capacity and speeds.Īt the time, Ofcom added it recognised that mass-market applications for mmWave spectrum were still at an early stage worldwide, but believed in the potential that the mobile band could bring in areas such as autonomous driving, immersive video and healthcare.
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