{"id":14226,"date":"2026-02-03T15:34:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/?post_type=gsma_theme_resources&#038;p=14226"},"modified":"2026-05-20T10:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:05:07","slug":"spectrum-policy-trends-2026","status":"publish","type":"gsma_theme_resources","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The year ahead promises continued transformation across the global connectivity landscape. As 5G matures in leading markets and new launches continue worldwide, governments and regulators face growing pressure to plan new spectrum capacity, provide long-term regulatory certainty, and support sustained investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, new developments\u2014from direct-to-device connectivity to early preparations for 6G\u2014are reshaping how spectrum is managed and coordinated globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the right regulatory frameworks in place, spectrum policy can unlock connectivity, drive economic growth, and expand digital opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-s-inside-the-report\">What\u2019s inside the report<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/spectrum-policy\/\">Spectrum Policy<\/a> Trends 2026 highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>5G to reach maturity in leading markets as launches continue<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spectrum assignments and renewals to support connectivity goals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Digital inclusion policies will require focus on low bands<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>D2D: momentum to accelerate in MSS bands<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spectrum activity for the 2030s to gather pace<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Spectrum-Policy-Trends-2026.pdf\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Spectrum-Policy-Trends-2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Download the report<\/a> to understand the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the global connectivity landscape in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The year ahead promises continued transformation across the global connectivity landscape. As 5G matures in leading markets and new launches continue worldwide, governments and regulators face growing pressure to plan new spectrum capacity, provide long-term regulatory certainty, and support sustained investment. At the same time, new developments\u2014from direct-to-device connectivity to early preparations for 6G\u2014are reshaping [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":14227,"template":"","meta":{"image":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Spectrum-Policy-Trends-2026-cover.png","json":{"gsma_resources_type":"Document","gsma_resources_thumb":"[14228]","gsma_resources_file":"[14229]","gsma_resources_multi":null,"gsma_resources_wgr":null,"gsma_resources_video":"","gsma_resources_image":"null","gsma_resources_url":"","gsma_resources_date":"","gsma_resources_button":""}},"tags":[],"resource_categories":[],"algolia_discover_type":[4028,4030],"class_list":["post-14226","gsma_theme_resources","type-gsma_theme_resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","algolia_discover_type-documents-and-reports","algolia_discover_type-resource"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 - Spectrum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 report highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 report highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spectrum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T09:05:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover-Image-website-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 - Spectrum","description":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 report highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead.","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\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026","og_description":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 report highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/","og_site_name":"Spectrum","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","article_modified_time":"2026-05-20T09:05:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover-Image-website-scaled.png","type":"image\/png"}],"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\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/","name":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 - Spectrum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover-Image-website-scaled.png","datePublished":"2026-02-03T15:34:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-20T09:05:07+00:00","description":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026 report highlights the top five spectrum policy trends shaping the year ahead.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover-Image-website-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cover-Image-website-scaled.png","width":2560,"height":853,"caption":"A young woman with curly hair and glasses looks intently at a computer screen. She holds a pencil in one hand. Digital code and data graphs are overlaid on the image, suggesting programming or data analysis. The background is blurred."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/gsma_resources\/spectrum-policy-trends-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spectrum Policy Trends 2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/","name":"Spectrum","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#organization","name":"GSMA","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/GSMA-Logo-Red-RGB_square.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"GSMA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GSMA","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gsmaonline\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/12380","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GSMAOnline","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/GSMA"]}]}},"cats":[{"term_id":2612,"name":"5G","slug":"5g","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2616,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":41,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":4035,"name":"6G","slug":"6g","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4039,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":4036,"name":"Direct-to-device (D2D)","slug":"direct-to-device","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4040,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2953,"name":"High bands","slug":"high-bands","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2957,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2740,"count":25,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2628,"name":"ITU WRC","slug":"itu-wrc","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2632,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2951,"name":"Low bands","slug":"low-bands","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2955,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2740,"count":40,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2952,"name":"Mid-bands","slug":"mid-bands","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2956,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2740,"count":39,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2964,"name":"Policy position paper","slug":"policy-position-paper","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2968,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2620,"count":21,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":4000,"name":"Private networks","slug":"private-networks","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4004,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2620,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2603,"name":"Resources","slug":"resources","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2607,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":40,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2740,"name":"Spectrum bands","slug":"spectrum-bands","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2744,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2611,"name":"Spectrum licensing","slug":"spectrum-licensing","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2615,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2620,"count":53,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2620,"name":"Spectrum policy","slug":"spectrum-policy","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2624,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":0,"count":27,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2621,"name":"Spectrum pricing","slug":"spectrum-pricing","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2625,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2620,"count":24,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2619,"name":"Spectrum roadmaps","slug":"spectrum-roadmaps","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2623,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2620,"count":24,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3993,"name":"WRC-23","slug":"wrc-23","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3997,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2628,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2615,"name":"WRC-27","slug":"wrc-27","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2619,"taxonomy":"resource_categories","description":"","parent":2628,"count":6,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources\/14226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/gsma_theme_resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources\/14226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14712,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gsma_theme_resources\/14226\/revisions\/14712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14226"},{"taxonomy":"resource_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_categories?post=14226"},{"taxonomy":"algolia_discover_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/connectivity-for-good\/spectrum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/algolia_discover_type?post=14226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}