WRC is over (if you want it)
The hottest telecoms-related event of 2015 was WRC-15, in which companies representing the mobile, satellite and broadcast sectors lobbied the ITU hard for new spectrum allocations.
And in the end, everybody won. More or less.
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The main battle was between the GSM Association and the satellite industry, who have already been scrapping over use of the extended C-band (3.4GHz-4.2GHz) for mobile broadband services.
For WRC-15, the GSM Association argued in official documents that the mobile sector will require another 600-800MHz worth of spectrum by 2020 to handle traffic demand over the next five to ten years, and asked the ITU to harmonize not only lower frequency bands (470-694/698MHz) and extended C-band (3.4GHz-4.2GHz) for mobile broadband use, but also other satellite bands, including the S-band (2.7-2.9GHz) and L band (between 1300MHz and 1518MHz).
The satellite sector accused the GSMA of taking more spectrum than it needed, claiming that in most markets, less than 50% of the spectrum already earmarked by the ITU for mobile broadband services has actually been licensed - and much of what spectrum has already been licensed isn’t being fully utilized.
In the end, the GSMA got three new globally harmonized bands: the 700 MHz band (694-790 MHz); the lower 200 MHz of the C-band (3.4-3.6 GHz) and L-band spectrum (1427-1518 MHz). What it didn’t get was harmonized spectrum for the sub-700 MHz band (especially 610-694/698 MHz) or the rest of the extended C-band (3.6-4.2 GHz).
The satellite sector was pleased about the latter, and wasn’t too concerned with the L-band allocations, as there are clear measures to protect the satellite users in the 1518-1559 MHz portion of the band. The satellite sector also scored a victory by keeping the harmonized frequencies for the C, Ku or Ka bands off the menu for WRC-19 as possible 5G spectrum candidates.
The GSMA was clearly disappointed with the decision to preserve the sub-700 MHz bands for terrestrial broadcasters in Region 1 (EMEA and central Asia) until at least 2023 (when the topic will be revisited at WRC-23). Chief regulatory officer John Giusti made it clear in public statements that the decision was a mistake, arguing that it was possible for broadcasters and mobile to co-exist in the UHF band, and anyway more people will watch video on mobile.
Meanwhile, everyone is already bracing themselves for WRC-19, which will be focused heavily on global and regional allocations for 5G technologies, particularly millimeter-wave bands above 24 GHz. As Caroline Gabriel noted in the Wireless Watch newsletter published by Rethink Research, the debate regarding millimeter-wave at WRC-19 won’t be just about harmonization and economic benefits: “There are many technical challenges to address too, particularly if these bands are to be used for access as well as backhaul - reducing shadow and loss, deciding on an air interface, working out how to integrate it into mass market devices and to aggregate it with lower bands.”