Ofcom consulting on opening mmWave spectrum in the UK

The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, have an announced a new consultation to make further millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum available. To support use of the 26 GHz band (24.25 - 27.5 GHz) in UK towns and cities, the proposal is to auction town / citywide licences for the upper 2.4 GHz of the band.

The lower 850 MHz of the band will be licenced on a first come, first served basis using Shared Access, as will the whole band in rural areas.

There is also a proposal to revoke existing point-to-point links in the 26 GHz band after a period of 5 year’s notice, to avoid interference with the new licences.

Ofcom have proposed to potentially revoke or vary the existing licences in the 40 GHz band. This would then allow a similar scheme as planned for the 26 GHz band. Ofcom expects demand for both bands to increase for uses including mobile hotspots and fixed wireless access (FWA) that can deliver speeds of over 1 Gbit/s.

The consultation is open until 18 July 2022 with full details on their website.