CTIA challenges US authorities to release more 5G spectrum

The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association has challenged lawmakers to open access to more spectrum to support the mobile industry in fixing the connectivity gap across the US.

The US comms watchdog’s CEO and president Meredith Attwell Baker also commended the mobile industry for keeping smartphone prices and mobile plans stable in the face of record inflation, as part of her keynote at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas.

Baker said the mobile industry bucked the trend at a time when the country was facing 7% to 9% inflation rates, compared with double digit spikes in goods from electricity to gas, cars and groceries.

“The outliers clearly jump out to me. Mobile phone plans and smartphones. I’m so proud that we are all keeping Americans connected and keeping prices under control. It’s about being consumer focused,” she said.

However, she warned that though the industry had a good record of providing more for less, spectrum policy could hold it back in the future.

Speaking on the keynote stage at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, Attwell Baker urged US authorities to release more mid-band spectrum and to work with regulator the Federal Communications Commission to auction more licenses for mid-band in continuous blocks.

“More spectrum is critical for us to continue to expand on this 5G platform and we know that spectrum is a team effort. We need congress to authorise auction authority and direct specific future options. We need the CTIA and FCC empowered to make these options possible,” she said.

She added that such agencies should be speaking to the government with one voice, while there also needed to be a better balance between commercial government and licenced and unlicensed spectrum.

According to a CTIA study, released for MWC LV, three mid-range spectrum bands offer the greatest potential for addressing the spectrum imbalance facing the US commercial wireless industry.

The Spectrum Allocation in the United States, study, which was conducted by Accenture on behalf of the CTIA, assessed the market for spectrum, which facilitates mobile connectivity seen as central to enterprise use cases such as private networks.

According to the study, the US wireless industry currently has access to 5% of lower mid-band spectrum, while unlicensed spectrum users have access to 7x and government users have access to 12x that amount.