{"id":11087,"date":"2023-03-21T17:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T11:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T10:11:20","slug":"low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits","status":"publish","type":"gsma_theme_resources","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Low-Band 5G Spectrum for Digital Equality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Low-band spectrum is a driver of digital equality, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas and delivering affordable connectivity. Without sufficient low-band spectrum, the digital divide is likely to widen, and those living in rural areas will be excluded from the latest digital technologies.<\/p>\n<p>Low bands play an important role in achieving the social goals of widespread connectivity by serving two key requirements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Their superior propagation characteristics make them particularly suitable for providing coverage in rural and remote areas, which is important in low and middle-income countries that have large rural populations.<\/li>\n<li>They have superior in-building penetration, providing \u2018deep\u2019 indoor coverage as well as capacity in urban areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Socio-economic benefits of low bands include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low-band 5G is set to generate $130 billion in GDP in 2030<\/li>\n<li>Half of the economic impact of low band will be driven by massive IoT (mIoT)<\/li>\n<li>Use of more UHF spectrum for mobile will provide greater value than maintaining it for broadcasting<\/li>\n<li>Countries utilising the 600 and\/or 700 MHz band for 5G have achieved faster rollout<\/li>\n<li>In addition to macroeconomic impacts, 5G has wider social and environmental benefits that low bands can help deliver to more people<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Download the resources below to learn more about the importance of low-band spectrum for digital equality. Find out more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/mid-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/\">mid-band spectrum<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/mmWave-5G-benefits.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">high-band spectrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"spec-pricing-docs-container\">\n    <div class=\"spec-pricing-doc\">\n      <div class=\"image\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Low-band-5G-cover.png\" alt=\"cover of report\">\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"details\">\n        <h3>Socio-economic benefits of low bands<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"downloadbuttons\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Socio-Economic-Benefits-of-Low-Band-Spectrum.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><p><i class=\"fas fa-download\"><\/i>Report<\/p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Socio-Economic-Benefits-of-Low-Band-5G-Appendix.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><p><i class=\"fas fa-download\"><\/i>Appendix<\/p><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"spec-pricing-doc\">\n      <div class=\"image\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Low-band-cover.png\" alt=\"cover of report\">\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"details\">\n        <h3>Low-band spectrum vision<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"downloadbuttons\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/5G-Low-Band-Spectrum-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><p><i class=\"fas fa-download\"><\/i>Report<\/p><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"spec-pricing-doc\">\n      <div class=\"image\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TMG-cover.png\" alt=\"cover of report\">\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"details\">\n        <h3>Guidelines for implementation of IMT in UHF bands<\/h3>\n        <div class=\"downloadbuttons\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmgtelecom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/TMG-UHF-Guidelines-October-2023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><p><i class=\"fas fa-download\"><\/i>Report<\/p><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GSMA_IMT-in-the-600-MHz-band_IG.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><p><i class=\"fas fa-download\"><\/i>Infographic<\/p><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <br \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This report shows, for the first time, the specific economic impact of 5G using low-band spectrum. It also provides a regional breakdown of the economic benefit of low-band 5G and uncovers the industries that will benefit the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"image":null,"json":{"gsma_resources_type":"Other","gsma_resources_thumb":"[]","gsma_resources_file":"[]","gsma_resources_multi":[{"version":"Report","offsite":"No","file":"[]","url":"","video":"","desc":"","image":"[10018]"},{"version":"Appendix","offsite":"No","file":"[10184]","url":"","video":"","desc":"","image":"[10186]"},{"version":"Infographic","offsite":"No","file":"[10114]","url":"","video":"","desc":"","image":"[10094]"}],"gsma_resources_wgr":null,"gsma_resources_video":"","gsma_resources_image":"[]","gsma_resources_url":"","gsma_resources_date":"","gsma_resources_button":""}},"tags":[],"resource_categories":[2612,2951,2611,3993],"algolia_discover_type":[4028,4030],"class_list":["post-11087","gsma_theme_resources","type-gsma_theme_resources","status-publish","hentry","resource_categories-5g","resource_categories-low-bands","resource_categories-spectrum-licensing","resource_categories-wrc-23","algolia_discover_type-documents-and-reports","algolia_discover_type-resource"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.7 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Low-Band 5G Spectrum for Digital Equality - Spectrum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Low-band spectrum is a driver of digital equality, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas and delivering affordable connectivity. 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Without sufficient low-band spectrum, the digital divide is likely to widen, and those living in rural areas will be excluded from the latest digital technologies.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Low-Band 5G Spectrum for Digital Equality","og_description":"Low-band spectrum is a driver of digital equality, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas and delivering affordable connectivity. Without sufficient low-band spectrum, the digital divide is likely to widen, and those living in rural areas will be excluded from the latest digital technologies.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/","og_site_name":"Spectrum","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_modified_time":"2026-10-08T10:11:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GSMA_logo_colour_web_small.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@GSMA","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/low-band-5g-spectrum-benefits\/","name":"Low-Band 5G Spectrum for Digital Equality - Spectrum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-21T17:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-08T10:11:20+00:00","description":"Low-band spectrum is a driver of digital equality, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas and delivering affordable connectivity. 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