• The GSMA is urging governments to make the 6.425GHz to 7.125GHz band available for mobile networks
  • More than 60 operators, equipment suppliers, chipmakers and device companies have backed the call

The fact

The GSMA called on governments to make the upper 6GHz band available for mobile networks, with support from more than 60 operators, equipment suppliers, chipmakers and device companies. The industry group is seeking access to frequencies between 6.425GHz and 7.125GHz and says the band could provide additional capacity for future mobile networks. It has called for full-power mobile use, although spectrum policy remains a national decision and countries are taking different approaches.

Britain, for example, has chosen a sharing model rather than assigning the entire band exclusively to mobile. Ofcom has prioritised 160MHz between 6.425GHz and 6.585GHz for Wi-Fi and the remaining 540MHz for mobile, with further work covering mobile access, geographical availability and existing users of the spectrum. The GSMA's announcement does not itself create new spectrum rights for operators.

The assessment

Support from more than 60 companies gives equipment makers and operators a common direction for upper 6GHz, but it does not give them the same spectrum in every country. Governments still decide how much of the band mobile networks can use, where it can be deployed and whether that access must be shared with Wi-Fi or existing users.

That means operators cannot plan a 6GHz rollout from the international industry position alone. Radio equipment, site plans and capacity forecasts have to match the spectrum that is actually authorised in each market. Britain's approach already shows how the usable bandwidth can differ from the full 700MHz sought by the industry. For BTW readers, wider industry support may make upper 6GHz equipment easier to develop at scale, but national spectrum decisions will determine where operators can put that equipment to work.

What to watch

Watch which governments make upper 6GHz spectrum available for mobile and how much bandwidth operators receive. Licence conditions, geographical limits and sharing requirements will determine the networks that can actually be built. In Britain, the next evidence will come from Ofcom's implementation of its mobile-access arrangements.