New Japan profile: seeking a 6G Gold Medal

One of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the postponement of many sporting events. The 2020 Olympics, for example, will take place this Summer 2021. Probably.

During initial preparations for 5G, both the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were seen as key set-pieces to showcase each country’s 5G networks.

Japan assigned 5G spectrum 3.7 GHz, 4.5 GHz, and 28 GHz in April 2019 in preparation for the next year’s Olympics. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications later also assigned 1.7 GHz to new entrant Rakuten so it can compete on 5G. But while the pandemic postponed the Olympic Games by at least one year, its network operators and industrial champions kept up the pace and launched 5G in March 2020.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is now preparing for a new championship: 6G. It plans to assign 12 GHz in the 150 GHz band and 25 GHz in the 300 GHz band for experimental applications.

Hopefully by the time 6G is launched the 2020 Summer Olympics will already have taken place.

Japan’s spectrum policy is further discussed in a new country profile. It is available to Spectrum Research Service subscribers here.