Chinese and Australian operators have been allocated 5G spectrum bands to prepare for 5G commercial launch
China
The Chinese government allocated 360MHz of 5G spectrum in the mid-band frequency range to the three state-owned mobile operators, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.
The market leader, China Mobile, received 260MHz of spectrum in the 2.6 and 4.8 GHz bands, while China Telecom and China Unicom obtained just 100MHz of spectrum in the C-band (3.5 GHz).
The country’s 5G tests started stand-alone (SA) and non-stand-alone (NSA) trials in 2016 scheduled to run until end-2018 in order to be ready for pre-commercial 5G launch in 2019.
Australia
Four Australian carriers have won 5G spectrum in the 3.6 GHz band during the last spectrum auction. The Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) raised around AUD 853 million ($615.6 million) after selling 350 available spectrum lots. The auction winners are :
• Dense Air Australia won 29 lots for AUD 18.49 million;
• Mobile JV, the joint venture of TPG Telecom and Vodafone Hutchison Australia, won 131 lots for AUD 263.2 million;
• Optus won 47 lots for AUD 185 million;
• Telstra won 143 lots for AUD 386 million.
ACMA announced that these 5G licenses will be valid from March 2020 until December 2030. Telstra already have 15 operational 5G-enabled sites and aims for 200 sites opened by the end of the year in order to be ready for the launch of commercial 5G services in 2019. Their rival Optus also announced the 5G coverage of the main Australian cities by March 2019.
