Next 12 months 'critical' for future of mobile
With a year to go until the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the GSMA has called on governments to step up plans to allocate more frequencies for mobile broadband or risk a spectrum crunch
Held every three-to-four years, the WRC reviews and, if necessary, revises the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of spectrum. With the demand for mobile data services increasing, the mobile industry is keen to secure as much spectrum as possible. WRC-15 is due to take place in Geneva next November.
"The next 12 months are critical," said Roberto Ercole, the GSMA's senior director of long-term spectrum.
"If we miss the boat on this at WRC-15, we won't get another chance for five-to-six years," he told Total Telecom on the sidelines of a Westminster eForum event in London on Wednesday.
"We need to start planning now. If we don't, the mobile data services that we need in future won't be available to consumers, and governments won't get the economic benefit," he said. "There could be a [spectrum] crunch."
At a regulatory level, discussions about assigning more spectrum for mobile broadband are already well underway.
In the U.K., Ofcom is supporting the government's aim to free up 500 MHz of spectrum currently used by the public sector for use by the private sector by 2020. To that end, it is exploring the possibility of allocating the 2.3-GHz and 3.4-GHz bands for mobile services.
In October, the European Commission backed the reallocation of C band spectrum, which covers frequencies in the 4 GHz-8 GHz range, for mobile use. Brussels has also revealed plans to use 700 MHz spectrum, currently used for radio and TV, for mobile services.
Looking further ahead to the eventual emergence of 5G technology, many in the telecoms industry are exploring the potential of millimetre-wave (MMW) spectrum for supporting very high-bandwidth access networks.
"It's hard to know what the future will look like, but what we do know is that demand for data will not stop," said Wladimir Bocquet, head of policy planning at the GSMA.
The key for the GSMA is harmonisation. New frequencies need to be adopted by more than one country at a time.
"Countries can't do it on their own," said Bocquet, who noted that the 700-MHz band is "very important" because it is globally harmonised.
"Harmonising will help the broader ecosystem," he said.
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