Sparring Partners | What’s the best way to share the 6 GHz spectrum?

The 6GHz band has become prime estate: a large amount of spectrum that can be safely shared with incumbents and used for indoor connectivity and densification in high-traffic areas.

Understandably, everybody wants to use it and protect their access to it: mobile operators, other service providers, enterprises, public entities, and everybody in their homes.

Who should have access to it? How should we ensure coexistence with incumbents? And how should we protect the right to access the spectrum?

Pasquale Cataldi at Innovation Lamba and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili examined different approaches to spectrum sharing in the 6 GHz band – from the US all-unlicensed to the Chinese all-licensed approach, and including the new Ofcom’s hybrid sharing proposal and other combinations of licensed and unlicensed access.

What regulatory framework will maximize the use of 6 GHz? What is the best way to share spectrum without unnecessary complexity, costs and delays? What do users want? What do service providers need? How important is it to have a harmonized approach across countries?

When you register below, you can choose the sections you watch:

01:10 Introduction to Pasquale, 6GHz sharing

02:56 Pasquale introduces himself, update on 6GHz, latest developments in Europe

07:18 Wi-Fi or 5G? How should we decide? What are the benefits and the needs?

11:39 6GHz allocation in different markets, what does it mean for Europe/UK, market dynamics

15:55 Hybrid model by Ofcom: does it help? Market, time to market, and device availability considerations

18:32 Importance of using the same sharing approach across countries, especially in Europe and in the UK

21:44 What we learned from CBRS

22:36 European regulation, asking the hard questions is useful, the Ofcom report is excellent in doing so

25:03 How long will it take for 6GHz to be fully used?

27:42 Wi-Fi versus 4G/5G traffic, overall traffic trends, indoor/outdoor traffic

28:57 6GHz and the metaverse and other latency/capacity demanding applications

34:59 Indoor connectivity

36:13 Coexistence, work by Monisha Gosh, University of Notre Dame, on coexistence, value of academic research in improving coexistence

39:08 RIS

41:08 More on Ofcom’s hybrid model, do we need a database or other models to improve sharing?

47:22 Are mobile operators better off with unlicensed spectrum (and offload to the 6GHz Wi-Fi infrastructure)?

53:42 Spectrum needs, densification, Pasquale’s three-step gradual approach to optimize utilization of 6GHz band

58:22 6GHz demand, there is still use for the 2.4 GHz band