New 5G spectrums in WRC-19 

What’is WRC 

World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) are held every 4 years in order to review and revise the Radio Regulations (RR) RR international treaty governing spectrum use (& satellite orbit). The decisions are being taken following a study period of 3 years. The next WRC-19 to be held from October 28th to November 22nd 2019 in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt.

The conference is governed by specific set of rules and etiquette:

− The meeting is being conducted in strict accordance to an agenda agreed during the previous conference.

− Only the administration representatives are involved in the decision making process and are allowed to take the floor during the debates.

− “One country-one vote” principle. However, voting is rarely used to the preferred method-consensus by unanimity.

Additional spectrum for 5G

Under the Agenda Item 1.13, the Conference will work on identification of IMT spectrum within the below ranges.

• Incumbent services in these bands include satellite, aeronautical radio navigation, fix services, Earth exploration, radio astronomy and automotive radar.

• In addition of identifying the bands, the conference will define a set of protection measures for the incumbent services operating in the band and in the adjacent bands.

• Overprotecting these services could result in a drastically reduction of the amount of spectrum allocated to the mobile industry; this in terms will lead to artificial scarcity and elevated licence prices.

Road for WRC-23: One of the task of WRC-19 will be to finalise the Agenda for WRC-23.

The preliminary agenda for WRC-23 was agreed by WRC-15 & will be completed by WRC-19 , which offers possibility to consider additional spectrum for future IMT deployments

• Identification of additional spectrum for MBB in the 470-694MHz band. – Additional sub 1GHz spectrum could solve any capacity constraints after 2025.

• Identification of the 3.8-4.2GHz. – This band is adjacent to the European 5G core band and could act as a capacity extension.

• Study new bands above 6GHz – Currently there is no allocation between 6 and 24GHz. This spectrum could be used for FWA applications more economically than in the higher bands.