Swiss telecoms regulator the Federal Office of Communications (Ofcom) is planning to make the 3400 MHz-3500 MHz range available for private 5G mobile networks on January 1, 2024.
The local private networks, also called campus networks, will allow universities, businesses and organizations to operate their high-speed network over a defined area, tailored to their needs.
The campus networks will require a licence. The duration of the licences will be several years. An exact timeframe has not yet been determined. According to the regulator’s policy paper, the licences will be distributed in blocks of 10 MHz. If several licence users are in the same area, spectrum will be made available on a shared basis.
By making this decision, Switzerland is steering away from the European efforts for a technical harmonisation of the 3.8-4.2 GHz band for private networks. CEPT studies are currently ongoing. “The outcome of these studies is uncertain and the results are not expected before the end of 2024,” says the Swiz regulator.
“Some European regulators doubt the success of the harmonisation of spectrum resources for campus networks. They estimate that the 3800-4200 MHz band can only be used inside buildings. They therefore each decided, at a national level, to free up frequencies which had already been harmonised for 5G mobile radio applications and which can also be used outside buildings.”
