Ofcom UK to Open 26GHz and 40GHz Bands for Faster 5G Mobile

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that they will release a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmWave) radio spectrum frequency across the 26GHz and 40GHz bands for use by ultrafast 5G (mobile broadband) technology, which could potentially make multi-gigabit mobile data speeds a reality.

So far, Ofcom has already released (auctioned) various 5G friendly mobile bands between 700MHz and 3.8GHz to EE (BT), O2 (VMO2), Vodafone and Three UK. This reflects the same sort of bands that mobile operators have been harnessing since the advent of the first 3G and 4G mobile data networks some years ago.

Naturally, the more spectrum frequency that an operator can access, the more data it can push to customers at faster speeds. The higher frequencies (26GHz and 40GHz) are thus attractive because they provide lots of extra spectrum frequency for data to be sent and received at extremely fast speeds (e.g. multi-Gigabit performance is easier), but signals are very easily disrupted (weak) and can only travel a short distance in a mobile environment.

In other words, the mmW bands being talked about above are more useful when serving densely populated areas (e.g. city shopping malls, airports, events etc.) and for supporting fixed wireless access (FWA) style broadband links to specific homes and businesses. But they won’t do much, if anything, to expand overall geographic network coverage.

Ofcom generally expects to award citywide licences to use mmWave spectrum by auction and assign licenses for more localised licences on a first come, first served basis, using their Shared Access licensing framework.

Ofcom’s Decision

We are enabling opportunities to access mmWave spectrum across the country for a variety of new uses. In this document, we set out how we will allocate mmWave spectrum to best support new uses:

• In the major towns and cities, where we expect the highest volume of mmWave deployment (“high density areas”), we will assign local licences on a first come, first served basis, using our Shared Access licensing framework; and award city/townwide licences by auction.

• Elsewhere in the UK (“low density areas”), we expect deployments to be sparser, and so we will assign local licences on a first come, first served basis for mmWave spectrum, using our Shared Access licensing framework.

To do this, we first need to clear the incumbent fixed wireless links which will not be able to coexist with mobile technology in this spectrum. We have therefore decided to start the statutory process to revoke:

• licences authorising fixed links in the 26 GHz band which are likely to receive harmful interference from new uses; and

• all of the existing block assigned licences in the 40 GHz band.

We note that the decisions and proposals set out in this document are subject to the outcome of these statutory processes for revoking existing licences.

We are now consulting on proposals for the design of the auction for citywide licences, the licence conditions for citywide and local mmWave licences and how we will coordinate users of this spectrum

In regard to Ofcom revoking licences authorising fixed links in the 26GHz band that are likely to receive harmful interference from new uses, Ofcom said they would begin this process later in 2023, once they have determined which fixed links are likely to receive interference from new users.

The fact that Three UK, which is one of the four major mobile operators, already holds a block of the 40GHz band (as does MBNL and MLL Limited) could potentially create some competition concerns – assuming Ofcom does enable them to harness it for 5G, without revoking and re-releasing it first. The regulator warns that it “might be appropriate to impose a competition measure such as a ‘precautionary cap’ to prevent H3G from acquiring large amounts of 26GHz.”

Historically, mobile operators have almost always tended to clash over spectrum auctions, which often ends up triggering legal threats and delays to the auction process. We’re not yet sure if the same will become true for the tricky mmW bands, but it’s certainly possible, even though we suspect they might be regarded by operators with a lower importance level than the 5G bands that have already been released.

The regulator is inviting responses to today’s consultation by 22nd May 2023.