As 5G deployments approach, low-, mid- and high-band spectrum — including licensed spectrum, bands shared with other services and unlicensed spectrum — are expected to play a critical role in the healthy future of the mobile wireless industry, according to 5G Americas.
A white paper from the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas suggests that 5G services are expected to cover a wide range of applications, which are grouped into three general categories: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC).
Applications will not only set different requirements on network features but will also drive a wide variety of deployment scenarios in a variety of spectrum bands.
The different physical characteristics of particular spectrum bands, such as the amount of potentially available spectrum, coverage/range, penetration into structures, and propagation around obstacles, will support different or varied applications depending upon their requirements.
Spectrum harmonization is important to enabling mobile broadband by facilitating economies of scale and global roaming. It is not limited to a situation where all regions have identical spectrum allocations.
Harmonization can also be derived from “tuning range” solutions covering adjacent or nearly-adjacent bands in which equipment can be reconfigured to operate over multiple bands (i.e., they are within the same tuning range).