It seems inevitable that greater reliance on a mix of spectrum, networks and licensing regimes will be a hallmark of all next-generation networks from this point forward.
There are several key changes. We are moving from communications using “only my owned resources” to a heterogeneous world where the access function routinely uses a mix of resources (both “my assets” and “any other available assets.”
That has implications for bandwidth, capital cost, operating cost, network design and protocols as well as business models.
In addition to new ways of sharing already-licensed spectrum, there will be much effort devoted to commercializing new frequency bands that have not been commercially viable for widespread consumer communications apps.
On the bandwidth front, most of the available new spectrum will come in higher ranges than previously used in the consumer mobile and fixed communications business, for example.
Most spectrum below 3 GHz is highly allocated. Most of the spectrum between 3 GHz and 6 GHz likewise already is licensed. Most of the unused spectrum lies higher than 24 GHz.
Though signal attenuation is high, it is possible some spectrum up to 300 GHz might eventually be usable. As the red line on this attenuation chart suggests, better performance (valleys rather than peaks) occurs at a range of frequencies up to 400 GHz.
For reasons of physics, the range around 60 GHz is troublesome, in terms of signal attenuation, and better from about 25 GHz to 50 GHz, as well as between 70 GHz and 100 GHz.
One immediate task is gaining global agreement, to the extent possible, on clearing many of those frequency bands for communications use, and setting rules about which frequencies will be used on a licensed basis, and which on a license-exempt basis.
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