Viet Nguyen, Vice President of PR and Technology, 5G Americas (October 2024) –
Imagine a home where every device anticipates your needs or visiting a doctor remotely with real-time diagnostics—connectivity that transforms industries and daily life. Although 5G still has plenty of room to grow, with 5G-Advanced just starting to roll out, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the key to success lies in getting the spectrum equation right. Unlike the leap from 4G to 5G, the transition to 6G won’t just be about more speed and lower latency—it will be about enabling entirely new categories of services, applications, and technologies that require significant capacity and coverage enhancements.
Central to this ambition is the 7.125-8.400 GHz spectrum range, sometimes called a “Golden Band of 6G.” The 5G Americas white paper titled ‘6G Upgrade in the 7-8 GHz Spectrum Range: Coverage, Capacity, and Technology‘ outlines the strategic importance of this spectrum for the Americas, based on preliminary studies showing its potential to support the capacity and coverage needs for 6G.
For mobile operators, spectrum is the lifeblood of their business. Every new generation of cellular technology has demanded more of it, and 6G will be no different. Research from major industry players projects that each operator will need 400-500 MHz of mid-band spectrum to meet the ambitious goals set for 6G, translating to a market-wide requirement of 1.5-2 GHz. This data comes from recent reports that highlight the pressing need for substantial mid-band availability to make 6G a reality. The 7.125-8.400 GHz band has emerged as the most promising candidate for fulfilling this need—not just in the U.S. and Canada, but globally. Its potential to harmonize spectrum allocations worldwide makes it crucial for the kind of economic scaling that will make 6G a commercial success.
Source: Figure 4 – ‘6G Upgrade in the 7-8 GHz Spectrum Range: Coverage, Capacity, and Technology‘
But why this specific range? The 7-8 GHz band offers unique technical characteristics that make it ideal for 6G. It provides a high enough frequency to achieve substantial bandwidth, enabling data rates that are significantly higher than 5G, while maintaining a wavelength that is short enough to fit more antenna elements in a compact space—essential for advanced beamforming and improved spectral efficiency. This allows operators to balance capacity and coverage effectively without excessive infrastructure costs. The 7-8 GHz band strikes an ideal balance by providing substantial bandwidth and enabling data rates up to 20 times greater than current 5G, while still maintaining meaningful coverage without massive new infrastructure investments. This allows for increased network capacity and data throughput without necessitating a significant increase in infrastructure density.
Source: Figure 3 – ‘6G Upgrade in the 7-8 GHz Spectrum Range: Coverage, Capacity, and Technology‘
One of the major benefits of the 7-8 GHz band lies in its ability to increase network capacity and improve coverage. Reusing existing 5G base station sites for 6G deployment is a cost-effective approach—reducing capital and operational expenditures related to new infrastructure. Advanced antenna technologies, particularly extreme massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (mMIMO), will allow operators to take full advantage of the higher frequency by significantly increasing network capacity. This increased number of elements enables more precise beamforming and greater spectral efficiency, making it especially beneficial for the dense, high-capacity requirements of 6G, significantly increasing the number of antenna elements within a given physical footprint.
To put it in perspective, as we move from the 3.5 GHz frequency used in 5G to the 7 GHz range, the wavelength halves, allowing for four times more antenna elements within the same size. This enables better beamforming, higher antenna gain, and improved spectral efficiency—all critical factors for enhancing both capacity and coverage. With more advanced beamforming techniques and AI-driven optimization, the network will be capable of handling significantly higher data loads, enabling the kind of capacity required for emerging 6G applications such as immersive VR and smart city infrastructure.
Source: Figure 5 – ‘6G Upgrade in the 7-8 GHz Spectrum Range: Coverage, Capacity, and Technology‘
These innovations will pave the way for advanced applications, rich in bandwidth and rapid in response, as we envision in a 6G world—from immersive augmented reality to real-time collaboration between robots and drone swarms. The increase in capacity, up to twenty times greater than 5G, will make these future technologies possible.
The 7.125-8.400 GHz spectrum is currently occupied by federal incumbents, which presents a significant challenge to exclusive spectrum allocation for commercial use in the near term. While there is potential for spectrum sharing, the technology still faces many challenges, including interference management and coexistence with existing users. Commercial wireless operators are cautious about relying on shared spectrum due to these complexities. Nevertheless, it is crucial to explore every avenue—including both exclusive licensing and carefully managed sharing arrangements—to unlock mid-band capacity that meets the evolving needs of consumers and industries across the Americas.
Is Spectrum Sharing a Panacea?
Spectrum sharing isn’t new territory—the 6 GHz band set a precedent with Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems and careful interference management, demonstrating both successes and challenges. While AFC has been useful in managing spectrum sharing, it has also faced numerous issues, including complex interference scenarios and difficulties in ensuring compliance among diverse users. These challenges highlight the need for a cautious approach when considering AFC for the 7-8 GHz range. Similar techniques might be used for 7-8 GHz, but these will need careful adaptation to address the unique complexities of the band. Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems could potentially be employed to manage coexistence, but their effectiveness will depend heavily on mitigating interference, particularly in areas where federal use is concentrated. Band segmentation is another potential approach, allowing portions of the spectrum to be allocated exclusively to federal or commercial use, depending on geographic and operational considerations.
For operators, exclusively licensed spectrum remains the most reliable way to ensure high-quality service and minimize deployment costs. A shared spectrum arrangement, while a secondary option, requires careful coordination to allow full power operation with minimal constraints—a challenge that regulators must address as they develop sharing frameworks for the 7-8 GHz band.
The 7-8 GHz band is often called a “Golden Band of 6G” due to its potential for global harmonization. Having a common spectrum band across major markets allows for economies of scale—driving down the cost of network equipment and user devices, while enabling seamless international roaming. For example, during the transition to 3G and 4G, fragmented spectrum allocations led to increased device manufacturing costs and complexities in ensuring global compatibility, resulting in less reliable international roaming and higher costs for consumers. Fragmented spectrum allocations make life more difficult for everyone in the ecosystem—manufacturers, operators, and consumers alike—because they complicate equipment design and drive up costs.
In the U.S. and Canada, where large swaths of mid-band spectrum have been limited, the 7-8 GHz range offers a unique opportunity to align with global spectrum initiatives. WRC-23 identified this band for study, and preparations for WRC-27 will be key in securing necessary allocations. Global coordination ensures that the Americas stay at the forefront of wireless innovation.
Sustainability is also a core aspect of 6G, and the 7-8 GHz band contributes by allowing operators to reuse existing base stations and employ efficient antenna technologies. Extreme mMIMO antennas used in this range offer higher gain without significantly increasing energy consumption, mitigating the higher path loss of higher frequencies. Energy efficiency is crucial as the number of connected devices continues to grow. High-energy-demand applications like real-time AR and autonomous vehicle networks place significant stress on infrastructure. Efficient beamforming and hybrid beamforming techniques will help minimize energy use while maximizing coverage and capacity, benefitting both the environment and operational costs.
The journey to 6G is just beginning, with significant challenges in spectrum management. Coexistence in shared bands and delays in spectrum reallocation have slowed progress. Realizing the potential of the “Golden Band” will require collaboration between the industry and regulators. Governments must work closely with mobile operators to enable commercial use of the 7-8 GHz spectrum while protecting existing users. The U.S. National Spectrum Strategy and Canada’s Spectrum Outlook have emphasized the importance of the 7.125-8.400 GHz band, aligning policies to benefit from global harmonization. Public-private partnerships with federal agencies are essential to develop sharing frameworks and interference mitigation.
The “Golden Band” of 6G is poised to transform mobile communications by providing the capacity and coverage needed for next-generation applications without burdening operators with massive infrastructure costs. Through reuse of existing sites, advanced antenna technologies, and smart spectrum-sharing, 6G can be both economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
Ultimately, successful deployment of 6G in the 7-8 GHz band will depend on global harmonization, collaboration, and a shared commitment to innovation. If achieved, this “Golden Band” will transform mobile broadband and reshape our interactions with technology, industries, and each other—ushering in a truly connected future.
