The ACMA will take applications for the 26GHz and 28GHz bands from November 2020.
A mix of licences available: Australia is one of few countries to award mmWave spectrum (24GHz or higher). Outside the US, awards have occurred in only a handful of European countries. On 26 October 2020, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced it will accept applications for millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum in the 26GHz and 28GHz bands from November 2020. The ACMA is facilitating a mix of licence types in the two bands, including area-wide apparatus licences (AWLs), spectrum licensing in 26GHz for dense deployment of networks in high population areas, and class licences for ubiquitous low power devices. AWLs provide users a more flexible licence type that can be scalable to a licensee’s needs.
A wide range of use cases is supported: A total of 5300MHz is available across the 24.7–30 GHz frequency range. The 4800MHz of spectrum below 29.5GHz is available in 96 x 50MHz channels. The ACMA notes that this spectrum has been optimised for uses such as IoT, M2M, local wireless broadband, and private networks over limited areas (e.g. rail corridors, hospitals, and industrial facilities). The remaining 500MHz is available for fixed satellite services earth station use.
More to come in 2021: The first round of allocations for AWLs will open on 4 November 2020 and will close on 17 November 2020. A second round of allocations will take place in 2021, after the spectrum auction the ACMA will run during H1 2021.
