5G Spectrum Bands

- Overview

Spectrum has been a growth driver for the mobile industry in the past and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Driven by consumer mobile broadband demand and new use cases, mobile network data traffic in the U.S. continues to grow at a rate of 30%-40% annually. In fact, the average monthly data usage per smartphone in North America is expected to grow from 15GB in 2021 to 52GB in 2027 – the highest in the world. This growth creates capacity demands on the network that require new spectrum pipelines to meet. 

In addition, each generation of mobile technology has improved network performance (eg, increased bandwidth, spectral efficiency, reduced latency), which also led to new uses, which in turn increased the demand for spectrum. As our society transforms, humans and machines will increasingly be interconnected digitally. To meet the capacity and coverage needs of mobile networks, a large amount of contiguous spectrum in a wide frequency range and allowing a wide bandwidth will be required.

- 5G Spectrum Bands

5G is designed to operate across all frequency bands, including the millimeter wave (mmWave) range extending up to 71 GHz. 5G requires a combination of sub-1GHz spectrum, mid-band and mmWave spectrum to reach its full potential. Mid-band spectrum is necessary to support both high capacity and broad coverage, i.e. covering urban areas in a cost-effective manner.

The 5G spectrum refers to the radio frequencies that carry data from user equipment (UE) to cellular base stations to the data’s endpoint. LTE networks use frequencies in the sub-6 GHz range and will be sharing the space with 5G traffic. The lower frequency bands will be used for less-densely populated areas because data can travel further, though slower, on these frequencies. 

The 5G spectrum is a range of radio frequencies in the sub-6 GHz range and the millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency range that is 24.25 GHz and above.  In order to utilize the newly-available mmWave spectrum, 5G networks will have to use the 5G New Radio technology being standardized by the 3GPP.

- 5G Low-band Spectrum

5G low-band spectrum offers blanket coverage. Low-band spectrum is any spectrum that is lower than 1 GHz on the spectrum chart. Early wireless networks, often referred to as analog cellular, were deployed in low-band 800 MHz spectrum. At the time operators often referred to low-band spectrum as “beachfront property” because it was so desirable. Wireless carriers could serve thousands of customers within hundreds of square miles with just one tower.

- 5G Mid-band Spectrum 

5G mid-band spectrum provides coverage and capacity. Spectrum in the 1 GHz – 6 GHz frequencies is mid-band spectrum and it is considered ideal for 5G because it can carry plenty of data while also traveling significant distances. The GSMA describes spectrum in the 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz range as particularly appealing. However, other mid-band spectrum is also being used for 5G. For example, operators in China and Japan are planning to use 4.5 GHz -5 GHz spectrum for 5G. And some operators in U.S. and Canada are planning to use (or are already using) the 2.3 GHz and the 2.5 GHz-2.6 GHz spectrum for 5G.

- 5G High-band Spectrum

5G high-band spectrum delivers super-fast speeds over short distances. The third bucket of spectrum where wireless operators are deploying 5G is in the millimeter wave spectrum. This is very high on the spectrum chart in the 24 GHz band and higher. The GSMA recommends that operators support millimeter wave spectrum in the 26 GHz, 40 GHz, 50 GHz and 66 GHz frequency bands for mobile services. However, the association also notes that spectrum in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz already have strong momentum from operators and added that these bands are adjacent and therefore make it easier for handsets to support.

 [More to come ...]