GSA report: Global application status of LTE and 5G in Sub 1GHz spectrum

GSA released a report that believes that the frequency bands below 1 GHz are essential for expanding 5G NR coverage in all urban/suburban/rural deployment scenarios, ensuring service continuity across different regions, improving service quality in indoor environments, and helping to narrow the digital divide. Mobile operators require spectrum below 1 GHz, and these bands will also play an important role in the industry creating private networks. For these reasons, GSA expects that in the next few years, the number of auctions of spectrum below 1 GHz will increase, and 5G NR deployments using allocated spectrum licenses will also increase.

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GSA also released other key data:

• 796 operators have launched LTE networks in 229 countries and regions around the world.
• 501 operators in 169 countries hold licenses to launch LTE using spectrum below 1GHz.
• 389 operators in 155 countries are known to have launched LTE networks using spectrum below 1 GHz.
• 12,968 LTE devices support one or more frequency bands below 1 GHz; in addition, GSA has identified 45 announced 5G devices that support frequency bands below 1 GHz, 20 of which are already commercially available.

40 countries have announced formal (date-specified) plans to allocate suitable frequencies for 5G below 1 GHz between now and 2022 (including technology-neutral licenses or licenses for mobile broadband services).

Of these, 35 are planning to auction/allocate 700 MHz of spectrum.

LTE uses several key spectrum bands below 1 GHz. Many of the same frequency bands are also used for networks based on 2G or 3G technology and for 5G.

• 450 MHz (Band 31): GSA has identified 14 operators that are investing in LTE at 450 MHz. At least ten of them have launched LTE in this band.
• 600 MHz (Band 71): 36 operators were identified as investing in 600 MHz spectrum, of which at least three have launched LTE services.
• 700 MHz: 200 operators invest in LTE on critical 700 MHz band:

101 operators have been identified as investing in the APT 700 MHz spectrum (Band 28: 703–748 / 758–803 FDD), including 99 operators with licenses, while 57 GSA has identified as having launched commercial LTE services in this band.

GSA also identified 99 operators investing in LTE in one of the U.S. 700 MHz bands (Bands 12, 13, 14 or 17), which between them cover 75 MHz within 699 MHz and 798 MHz. Of these, 81 have launched LTE networks using one of these bands.

Band 20: (832–862 MHz / 791–821 MHz) is the most commonly used band, with 225 operators investing in LTE in this frequency range, including 198 believed to have launched networks, 25 other licensed operators, and two more planning networks.