Nepal’s National Frequency Management Forum has provided its recommendations for the optimal frequencies to release for 5G usage.
The forum has identified suitable spectrum across low, mid and high-band frequencies. It has also proposed that the National Telecommunications Authority (NTA) make all existing 2G, 3G and 4G licences technology-neutral so that operators can refarm their spectrum holdings for 5G use.
As reported by local outlet Nepalitelecom.com, the committee was set up by the country’s regulator along with the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MoCIT) and representatives from Nepali operators.
According to TeleGeography, the committee’s proposed allocation of lower range spectrum was 10MHz-20MHz of bandwidth across the 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2300MHz and 2600MHz bands. Of these, only the latter is not currently used for mobile services.
It advocated assigning 100MHz of spectrum in the mid-range 3300MHz, 3600MHz and 4700MHz bands, none of which have yet been used to provide mobile services, and for high-band mmWave spectrum, the committee suggested an allocation of 800MHz-1GHz in the 26GHz band.