Qualcomm says 5G mmWave is the way forward, but questions remain

Written by Andrew Wooden for Telecoms.com

5G mmWave is being hailed as an enabler for things like fixing congestion issues in crowded spaces and revolutionising farming – but wasn’t vanilla 5G supposed to have already done that, and more?

Qualcomm hosted a media round table ahead of MWC, in which it presented its case, with help from GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) and 5G rural Dorset, that 5G mmWave technology is the way forward when it comes to delivering on the 5G use cases that have been bandied around for years.

South East

Japan plans to auction spectrum, rather than give it for free

Written by Linda Hardesty for FierceWireless.com

The Nikkei news site in Japan reported that the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) will introduce a spectrum auction system by early 2026. This is a new development in Japan, where previously MIC allocated spectrum to wireless carriers for free.

How to fix open RAN in the US

Written by Mike Dano for LightReading.com

The US government is plowing $1.5 billion into the open RAN industry in the hopes of cultivating domestic suppliers for 5G. But it's not exactly clear how that money will be spent.

Not surprisingly, the US wireless industry has plenty of ideas on where the money should go. Almost 100 domestic and international 5G players recently submitted their spending suggestions to the NTIA – the federal agency in charge of the $1.5 billion – as part of its "Wireless Innovation Fund" program.

Nick Johnson appointed the Director of UKTIN

We are delighted to announce Nick Johnson today joins us as the Director of UKTIN. Johnson brings a wealth of telecom experience, and strong engineering and commercial expertise to the UKTIN team.

He is well known and respected across the industry, holding a number of patents and having previously held chair positions for the Small Cell Forum. In recognition of his work, he was most recently awarded Cambridge Wireless’ Lifetime Achievement in the Wireless Sector award in 2021.