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Understanding Modern Spectrum Management
The key engineering, legal and policy issues
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Glossary
5G pioneer bands
The 5G pioneer bands are a set of spectrum bands identified by the European Commission as important for the rollout of 5G technology. The bands are as follows:
- 700 MHz: 703-733 and 758-788 MHz
- 3.5 GHz (also called 3.6 GHz): 3400–3800 MHz
- 26 GHz: 24250–27500 MHz
The 5G pioneer bands were included in the European Commission’s Electronic Communications Code (EECCThe Electronic Communications Code is a se...), which prompts EU countries to make them available if there is demand for them. The initial deadline to assign these bands was set to 31 December 2020. However, many countries did not achieve this target.
As of 2024, the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz bands have been widely assigned by most EU countries. The 26 GHz band, however, has only been assigned by around half of all 27 EU Member States.