Mid-band Spectrum: The Key Driver for Global 5G Rollout Success

A key component of 5G's success is the mid-band spectrum. Globally, telecom companies have implemented 5G in the mid-band spectrum to provide customers with services. Of course, mmWave bandwidth is needed for industrial use cases, but mid-band is the sweet spot for general use cases, which are primarily consumer-related.

Three spectrum ranges—low-band (sub-1GHz), mid-band (frequencies between 1 GHz and 6 GHz), and high-band or mmWave (24 GHz and above) are allotted by regulators to 5G networks, each with its own advantages and capabilities. An operator's 5G deployment approach and the breadth of offerings and experiences it may provide are largely determined by the spectrum it owns. In order to provide 5G, 72% of the 295 operators in the world, according to an Ookla analysis, employed mid-band spectrum. The others that haven't probably limit their 5G mmWave spectrum services to B2B transactions.

With its unique combination of speed and range, mid-band spectrum has a key place in the 5G landscape and is essential to utilizing 5G networks to their fullest extent. Offering a balance of range and speed that is essential for achieving the full potential of 5G networks, it sits between the wide reach of low-band spectrum and the high-speed but constrained-range capabilities of high-band or mmWave spectrum. 

The telecoms have utilized mid-band spectrum even in the instance of India, which has seen one of the quickest rollouts of 5G globally. Nearly all 5G phones support the n77 and n78 bands. This is due to the fact that smartphone manufacturers are aware that 5G will require the telcos to deploy mid-band spectrum. The n77 and n78 bands are mid-band, this category of spectrum is also known as C-band spectrum in foreign markets.

Because mid-band can balance both performance and coverage, it is the recommended option for 5G rollout. As of the end of Q1 2024, 72% of the 295 operators that have built commercial 5G networks globally had made use of mid-band spectrum, according to GSMA Intelligence's Spectrum Navigator. 

In Indian market's scenario, two telecom organizations, the GSMA and COAI, have asked the government to give the telcos access to the 6 GHz spectrum for mobile use. The telecom groups claim that Indian telcos will not be able to provide end-to-end 5G coverage in the upcoming years due to a lack of mid-band bandwidth. Thus, that bandwidth gap may be filled in part by the 6 GHz frequency. But tech companies have maintained that delicensing the 6 GHz frequency to allow Wi-Fi use is a good idea.