Twelve leading European mobile operators have urged the European Commission to allocate more frequency bands to advance the development of the 6G network.
In a letter released by the industry association GSMA, and confirmed by telecom giant Orange to AFP, the operators made their case to the European Commission and national regulators.
Signed by major operators such as Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia (TIM), and British Telecom (BT Group), the letter calls on Europe to assign a new radio frequency band to them.
The request is specifically focused on the upper part of the 6GHz frequency band, which they describe as a “crucial opportunity for the launch of 6G in Europe.”
The upcoming 6G network, expected to follow 5G by 2030, promises improvements in speed, latency, and new applications such as location and environmental detection. However, deploying this network depends on access to certain radio frequency bands.
These bands are currently shared among various uses, including mobile and Wi-Fi, and the European Commission has the authority to harmonise frequency use across Europe.
The letter states, “We remain concerned that access to the upper 6 GHz band is still being sought for Wi-Fi by US stakeholders,” expressing the operators’ apprehensions regarding frequency allocation.
