5G will be different from all prior mobile network platforms in many ways, but one obvious difference is that 5G will use “all of the above” spectrum assets. All prior generations were defined by use of specific bands.
Generally speaking, 2G used 800-MHz and 900-MHz spectrum. When 3G was launched, it used 1.8 GHz spectrum. By the time 4G was launched, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz were the frequencies often employed.
With 5G, we will see many huge new blocks of frequency added in the millimeter region (3 GHz to 300 GHz is generally described as the millimeter region).
Generally speaking, most new usable millimeter spectrum will lie in the range between 24 GHz and 86 GHz. Other already-licensed bands, in the United States, for example, include 28 GHz and 31 GHz, and will be used to support 5G.
In many areas, 600 MHz and 700-MHz spectrum also is available, and will be used to support 5G.
On top of that, as older 2G networks are decommissioned, that spectrum also will be repurposed to support 5G.
The point is that 5G will use many different frequencies, compared to prior networks, but the most-notable change will be the addition of millimeter wave frequencies.
The other big change is that 5G will be the first network platform specifically set up to incorporate use of unlicensed spectrum, as well as aggregated use of licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
Those innovations will build on use of such techniques on advanced 4G networks.
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