GSMA has expressed disappointment with Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Conference Preparatory Group (APT)'s decision to allocate only 51MHz of additional spectrum for mobile broadband to date. This, said GSMA will not be sufficient to meet the fast growing consumer demand in the region and APT needs to find additional spectrum for future use. APT which represents 38 APAC member countries and territories has identified the 51MHz spectrum in the final meeting of its conference preparatory group ahead of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15).
John Giusti, Deputy Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA said with ".....4G rising and 5G on the horizon, and without more spectrum identified, this means that Asia Pacific cannot benefit from economies of scale and affordable connectivity and puts the future of its digital economy at risk."
He added that, “While we are pleased that the APG has identified a portion of the L-band for mobile broadband, we encourage Asia Pacific countries to follow the lead of governments in Africa, the Americas and Europe in looking to make more of the L-band spectrum (1427-1518MHz) available for mobile broadband during WRC-15."
In addition, he noted that “We are also disappointed that the APG has decided not to make spectrum in the under-utilised 2.7-2.9GHz band available for mobile broadband in dense urban areas. Additional capacity spectrum in higher frequency bands is vital, particularly in those countries where the 2.7-2.9GHz band is an important alternative to the C-band (3.4-4.2GHz).
