A dozen of Europe's biggest telecom operators have this week urged regulators to allocate the entire upper 6 GHz band (6.425–7.125 GHz) for mobile use.
Operators including BT, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone outlined a warning to regulators to ensure the entire upper 6GHz band is exclusively allocated for mobile services.
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The open letter, signed by chief technology officers at a dozen carriers, states that 6GHz provides a pivotal opportunity for launching 6G in Europe.
European operators warned that unless the spectrum band is utilized for mobile services, Europe risks falling behind in the 6G race.
"The decisions and the strategic approach that Europe takes now on the upper 6 GHz band will have profound and long-lasting implications on the ability of Europe’s telecoms sector to enable that future," stated the telcos in the letter.
"With escalating demands on current spectrum capacity and with future services including 6G on the horizon, it is critical that the entirety of the upper 6 GHz band (6.425-7.125 GHz) is made available to mobile networks."
6G isn't expected to launch commercially until 2030 at the earliest, however, R&D into the next-generation technology is already underway for the network vendors and carriers.
"6 GHz is expected to play a significant role in supporting the deployment of next generation 6G services in Europe. The whole of the upper 6 GHz band would be required for even the first 6G implementations in Europe," the letter said.
"We remain concerned that access to upper 6 GHz band is still sought for WiFi by US stakeholders, despite the recent availability of a new but widely unused block of 480 MHz in the lower 6 GHz band, expressly reserved for this purpose."
For context, the US opened the band for WiFi in 2020, while China allocated it for 5G and 6G two years ago.
However, Europe has yet to make a decision on the spectrum. When operators initially launched their 5G networks, nations auctioned airwaves in the 3.4GHz to 3.8GHz band.
The telcos noted that they "do not perceive any current or future Wi-Fi spectrum shortfall," but say any delays over a decision to make the upper 6 GHz band available to European mobile operators "threatens" Europe's competitiveness.
"This would stifle the future economic potential of European business and society and ultimately erode Europe’s influence over its own digital future and global competitiveness," the statement said.
CTOs from other European carriers including A1, KPN, Elisa, Proximus, Telia, Telecom Italia (TIM), and United Group also signed the letter.
