As nations move towards UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), universal and meaningful connectivity must be available for everyone. The right spectrum management model can ensure that the mobile ecosystem acts as a broad and diverse enabler of social development and economic growth.

The roles played by licensed and unlicensed (or licence-exempt) spectrum schemes are crucial to delivering applications and providing reliable services to consumers. Over 57% of the world’s population are using the mobile internet today and mobile network operators are major users of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

Both spectrum models are necessary and can be complementary, working together to help ensure people all over the world can experience the full benefits of connectivity. The way these two spectrum management mechanisms support one another is laid out in the GSMA position paper Harnessing Spectrum Diversity.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) use licensed spectrum in core frequency bands to provide services to industry, governments, and consumers. This spectrum has guaranteed rights of use and helps provide secure, reliable, and good quality service for end-users. Licensed spectrum also provides certainty, incentivises investment, and gives predictability needed for MNOs to develop long-term expansion plans.

Unlicensed spectrum, often used by consumers and industry for WAS/RLAN applications such as Wi-Fi, is also an important mechanism for providing internet connectivity. It forms part of MNOs’ suite of services, allows user devices to connect in fixed locations and can be an important component of communications infrastructure.

To ensure the benefits of digitalisation, mobile and fixed networks should be complementary. The speed and quality of both networks should be comparable, and the transition between them should seamless. Ensuring balance between the two spectrum models supports user demand for more data. To help achieve this, the GSMA highlights the following principles:

1. Licensed and unlicensed spectrum play important roles in broadband connectivity
2. Mobile network operators offer services using unlicensed and licensed spectrum
3. Where demand on spectrum is high for unlicensed usage, it is typically high for licensed mobile
4. Seamless connectivity promotes digital transformation and SDGs uptake
5. Mobile service prevalence and quality removes the need for public Wi-Fi Access Points
6. Unlicensed spectrum needs are mostly defined by the speed of the internet access
7. Private mobile networks may require licensed and unlicensed spectrum

To dive into the detail of all of them, you can download the full policy position paper here.