5G Americas announces new report on Regulatory Policies and Spectrum Sharing

BELLEVUE, Wash. – August 23, 2017 – 5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced the publication of the 5G Regulatory Policy Considerations and Spectrum Sharing white paper outlining regulatory requirements that will affect the design and deployment of 5G networks. Regulatory requirements primarily concern the need for 5G networks to support existing emergency and government services and provide the ability to offer new public services.

The 5G Americas white paper examines two important aspects of 5G network deployment and use: regulations and shared spectrum. The paper addresses all 5G radio interface technologies, including 3GPP NR (New Radio) and explains the pertinent detailed regulatory aspects.

In addition to existing emergency and government services, it is expected that 5G systems with their improved speeds, increased network capacity and improved reliability will provide the ability to offer new public services. Probably one of the most important services will be vehicle-to-vehicle communications that can make our travel and our roads safer.

“Over the years, the mobile wireless industry has provided important public safety services to society. Recommendations by the industry on ways to continue those critical services under 5G are progressing at this time and are explained in this new white paper,” commented Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas.

In addition, 5G Americas report details many aspects of shared spectrum and how it can serve as a building block for new network innovations that will help pave the way to full 5G deployments. The 5G system operates best when given large amounts of spectrum. While sole access to spectrum will continue to be a mainstay of major public networks, the ability to take advantage of additional spectrum that is shared with others will provide expansion capacities that may be extremely important to providing subscribers with the speeds and capacities they expect of 5G. Via shared spectrum, enterprises and entrepreneurs can build new businesses and use new business models that were not previously available or that were difficult to achieve in existing unlicensed bands.

5G Americas’ whitepaper 5G Regulatory Policy Considerations and Spectrum Sharing captures the scope of the most important regulatory and spectrum developments in 2017, such as:

• 5G for emergency services
• WEA and 5G
• 5G impacts on earthquake early warning systems
• 5G for public safety
• 5G capabilities for individuals with disabilities
• 5G networks and lawful surveillance
• Spectrum sharing aspects

5G Regulatory Policy Considerations and Spectrum Sharing was written by co-leaders Peter Musgrove and Brian Daly of AT&T as well as representatives from member companies on 5G Americas’ Board of Governors who participated in the development of this white paper.