Many countries are investing heavily in 6G R&D programmes. R&D agendas are seeking to align with the ITU’s IMT-2030 framework and to feed into the ongoing 6G standardisation process. Many 6G R&D initiatives involve multi-year funding for public-private projects involving multiple organisations focused on building 6G platforms and developing 6G… Read more...

Regional and national 6G roadmaps are seeking to align with the ITU’s IMT-2030 (6G) framework and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, along with standards developments as they progress in 3GPP. In 2024, national agendas are moving from concepts and visions to more concrete and directional strategies. While many of… Read more...

Several nations in the Americas that have assigned spectrum for private networks are now planning to assign additional spectrum resources across a growing array of spectrum bands targeted for local use in the region. Brazil, Canada, Colombia and the US are also pursuing new spectrum sharing frameworks for third party… Read more...

Auction formats serve many masters. They started simple but failed to satisfy the flexibility requirement. By giving bidders more options, they became more complex. The most recent trend is back towards simpler formats. Read more...

The past 12 months has seen the leading economies wrestling with a new policy issue—satellite direct-to-device services—as well as assigning mid-band spectrum and finalising positions on 6 GHz. Read more...

With the re-merger of EchoStar and US-based DISH Networks, EchoStar is now a licensed operator of terrestrial and fixed and mobile satellite service networks, commanding a large pool of mobile and satellite spectrum. In addition to its GEO satellite fleet, with a new satellite launched in June 2023, EchoStar is… Read more...

SpaceX’s Starlink continues its aggressive LEO fleet expansion with over 6,000 operational satellites in orbit, over 3 million subscribers and a presence in 99 countries, with the list of national authorisations to provide services continuing to grow. SpaceX urges regulators to preserve satellite access to established Ku- and Ka-band frequencies… Read more...

Amazon’s Project Kuiper LEO satellite constellation is authorised to use Ka-band spectrum and the protection and preservation of the 28 GHz band for satellite services is a priority for Amazon. The first two Kuiper prototype satellites launched in October 2023 and Amazon expects to provide services to its first customers… Read more...

While all of the vendors profiled in 2024 recognise the continued importance of both low-band and mmWave spectrum for both 5G and 6G, their clear focus is repurposing existing low mid-band spectrum and the release of new licensed spectrum in frequency ranges above 7 GHz. The greatest disparity in vendor… Read more...

Qualcomm argues that fully cleared, exclusively licensed spectrum remains the top priority for the wireless industry to support the continued rapid rollout of 5G and 6G. At the same time, Qualcomm considers that unlicensed spectrum plays an important role in Wi-Fi operations in homes and businesses. It stresses the need… Read more...