The Wireless Future: Global Spectrum management Challenges for the 2020s

Radio spectrum connects our digital world. It helps to deliver our news, connect us to friends and family, support public services, guide our aircraft, and monitor our climate. Used cleverly and efficiently, it can continue to transform the way we connect, live and work, as well as advancing our understanding of our natural world.

But there is only a finite amount of spectrum available, and there are many challenges in how we manage and use spectrum at a national and international level, balancing different uses and needs.

These are challenges which many countries and stakeholders will face. Without collectively addressing these , we risk the effective development of the wireless world of the future, and risk stifling innovation and delaying the benefits to society and economy of innovation in all types of wireless applications.

In December 2020, in our consultation on spectrum strategy, we opened the debate and posed questions for policymakers, regulators and industry. These questions included how best to go about encouraging all spectrum users to be ‘better neighbours’ and how to achieve more realistic spectrum planning assumptions and co-existence analysis.

Our consultation closed in February and we would like to invite you to attend an online event on 6 July in which we will set out some of the preliminary findings and some of the remaining challenges for the future, prior to publishing our conclusions later in the year.

There are no easy answers in the world of spectrum but there is a need for a global conversation, on how to make sure we benefit from the wireless opportunities of the future.

Please register to join the conversation with us on Tuesday 6 July from 1.30pm – 3.30pm BST. After booking a place you will receive a Mircosoft link to the event. Only registered attendees will be able to attend. You do not need a Microsoft Teams account to attend the event.

You can join the conversation on social media using #OfcomSpectrum

As part of our global conversation, Ofcom will be holding another event on14th July looking at enabling greater use of THz spectrum and a further session in the autumn on future networks beyond 5G. Further details will follow.

If you have any further questions, please contact us by email at ofcomevents@ofcom.org.uk