The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) is making new chunks of spectrum available for large-scale tests of 5G this year.
Sweden’s regulator will open up 100 to 200MHz in the 3.5GHz band and up to 1,000MHz in the 26GHz band.
The two bands in question have been identified as pioneer bands for 5G deployment.
The granting of testing licenses will be followed by long-term granting of licenses for these frequencies from 2020 onwards to allow commercial 5G deployments, PTS said.
PTS launched the consultation to gauge market interest into licenses in February. Nine parties have expressed an interest in trialing spectrum.
In a statement, it said: “Favourable conditions for 5G development can strengthen Sweden’s position as a leading IT nation. Sweden has the potential to be one of the first countries in Europe where extensive 5G network is being deployed.
“PTS now creates opportunities for stakeholders to make large-scale tests of 5G technology already from 2017.”
Sweden hosted what was claimed as Europe’s first live 5G trial last October. Telia and Ericsson completed a 5G trial using 800MHz of spectrum in the 15GHz band in Kista, hitting peak rates of 15Gbps and latency of less than three milliseconds.
This year has already seen a slew of 5G tests across the continent.
Bouygues Telecom and Ericsson have hit download speeds of 25.2GBps in their latest 5G tests. The two companies used two prototype mobile devices connected to an Ericsson radio base station with active 5G antennae at Bouygues Telecom’s Technopôle complex.
Recently, the 3GPP RAN working group agreed on an intermediate milestone for non-standalone 5G New Radio (NR) standards to allow testing of 5G mobile broadband use cases in 2019.