This study commissioned by Ericsson, Huawei and Qualcomm provides an independent assessment of the economic benefits that would arise through use of C-Band spectrum (3400/3600-4200 MHz) for mobile broadband services in Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Mobile broadband traffic is forecast to grow rapidly over the next 10-15 years. It is possible that there will be a spectrum shortfall unless sufficient spectrum is made available to avoid operators having to make costly investments in infrastructure to support this traffic growth.  The 3400/3600-4200 MHz frequency range could be used to provide additional capacity to address this shortfall. It will reduce the costs of service provision and improve quality of service. 3400/3600-4200 MHz is currently used by several incumbent services including fixed satellite service earth stations and the fixed service – fixed links (point to point and point to multi-point).

This report considers the economic benefit arising from the early release of spectrum in the 3400/3600-4200 MHz frequency range for mobile broadband services.