There are economic benefits to mmWave in deployed standalone and to complement other spectrum bands.
Research house Analysys Mason found there is “a significant net economic benefit to deploying 5G mmWave primarily together with 3.5GHz and other mobile spectrum in Europe, but also standalone, across a wide range of scenarios for outdoor or indoor coverage”.
Respondents to the survey highlighted that mmWave can be used to maximise capacity within mobile networks (since frequencies can be reused more intensively without co-channel interference occurring) as well as to allow for more flexibility to address different uplink and downlink capacity requirements.
Analysys Mason carried out the study, Status, costs and benefits of 5G 26GHz deployments in Europe, for Ericsson and Qualcomm.
Janette Stewart, Partner at Analysys Mason, said, “This study demonstrates the importance for European regulators to complete 5G licensing in all of the bands identified at an EU level.”
All frequency ranges
Ulf Pehrsson, VP and Head of Government and Industry Relations at Ericsson, added, “Our experience shows that leading markets offer availability of 5G spectrum in all frequency ranges (low, mid and high). Europe has indeed harmonised spectrum in the three ranges and we urge nations to release the spectrum to pick up market speed.
“In particular, the millimetre wave is key to deliver very high capacity in dense areas and a wide range of industrial use cases. Its deployment building on enhanced Mobile Broadband existing deployments is key to bring the economy up post-Covid-19, as shown in this report.”
Wassim Chourbaji, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs EMEA, Qualcomm Communications, commented: “It is clear from the report that deploying 5G mmWave alongside sub-6 5G deployments will bring significant positive economic impact to Europe.
“We are encouraged to see the positive progress made thus far in Europe to award 26GHz mmWave spectrum. It is clear however that there is much work to do to catch up with other regions around the world that are seeing the benefits of commercialising 5G mmWave services