Is 3.5 GHz licensed?

The 3.6 GHz band also forms a subset of the 3300–3800 MHz band , which since 2016 has been recognised internationally as a pioneer band for 5G services. The standardisation of both non-standalone and standalone 5G equipment was completed by the 3GPP in June 2018.

The GAA tier is licensed-by-rule to permit open, flexible access to the band for the widest possible group of potential users.10 Mar 2020

Today, a majority of commercial 5G networks rely on spectrum in the 3.5 GHz range (3.3 GHz-4.2 GHz). This momentum makes it vital that regulators assign as much contiguous 5G spectrum as possible in the range.

4G uses frequencies below 6 GHz , while some 5G networks use higher frequencies, like around 30 GHz or more. These high frequencies are great for a number of reasons, one of the most important being that they support a huge capacity for fast data.

The 2.5 GHz band is the largest band of contiguous spectrum below 3 gigahertz – and its technical characteristics make this spectrum band highly suitable for next-generation mobile broadband services, including 5G. But much of the 2.5 GHz band lies fallow and unused throughout the United States.

The two spectrum bands are both mid-band spectrum : The 3.45-3.55 spectrum, which was recently awarded in Auction 110; and the 3.7-3.98 GHz spectrum, which was awarded in Auction 107.