This commitment, according to the organisation, should include a harmonised approach and agreement of a common set of bands, due to the large amounts of spectrum which will ultimately be required by the technology. It should also include ‘long-term heavy investment’ in small cell 5G network sites.
The GSMA’s chief regulatory officer John Giusti said: “Although the mobile industry, academic institutions and international standards-making bodies are developing the technologies central to 5G, success will depend heavily on affordable access to the necessary amount of spectrum.
“It is essential that sufficient new mobile spectrum is made available, and that operators are allowed to repurpose existing spectrum for 5G when required. Governments are central to the WRC-19 process to identify harmonised spectrum for 5G and incentivise the necessary network investment.”
The GSMA has also stated that mobile spectrum must be quickly identified within three key frequency ranges: Sub-1 GHz, 1-6 GHz and above 6 GHz.
