Broadband  |  2024-01-29

Remote Area Australia Gets 5G Spectrum for New Use Cases in Mining, Agriculture and Industry 4.0

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

This spectrum will be allocated to users as an Area-Wide apparatus licenses (AWL) which allows licensees to tailor the spectrum capacity and geographic reach of the license.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has recently released 5G midband
spectrum (3.4-4GHz) in remote area Australia. This is to facilitate a wide range of new and existing
wireless broadband services (WBB) use cases such as wireless internet service providers, public
mobile telecommunications services, and enterprise and campus-style private networks, such as for
mine sites, agricultural uses or industrial uses.

This spectrum will be allocated to users as an Area-Wide apparatus licenses (AWL) which allows
licensees to tailor the spectrum capacity and geographic reach of the license. The licensee can use
the spectrum for a wide range of technologies, services and applications.

31 companies applied for spectrum, and all were successful. Licenses were issued to resource
companies, public and private carriers and government organisations.

In November 2023, the ACMA auctioned spectrum in the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band in metro and regional
areas of Australia, with 4 companies, Telstra, Optus, NBN and Mobile JV taking 577 of the available
588 lots. The ACMA stated objective for this allocation is to support digital connectivity, promote
competition and facilitate investment in new services for Australian consumers and businesses across
metropolitan and regional areas of Australia.

Q1 2024 will see the ACMA release spectrum in the 3.8-3.95 GHz band in metro and regional areas of
Australia allocated as AWL licenses. The release of this 5G band to enterprise users will allow for
innovative use cases and services and facilitate the digital transformation to industry 4.0.