It seems that Ukraine’s mobile operators may have more spectrum to play with after an announcement from Ukraine’s National Television & Radio Broadcasting Council (NRADA).
NRADA recently announced on its website that it has approved a draft action plan to free up the 790MHz-862MHz (800MHz) and 694MHz-790MHz (700MHz) frequency bands for 4G LTE mobile broadband services. These are, or will be, ‘digital dividend’ bands – spectrum formerly used for broadcasting and redistributed for other purposes.
Under the plan, national digital TV channels will operate in the 470MHz-694MHz range, while the Ukrainian State Centre of Radio Frequencies (UCRF) will allocate additional frequencies for local or regional broadcasting. Preliminary calculations for redevelopment of local and regional TV channels are due from the UCRF in April 2020.
The plan was approved at NRADA’s meeting on 12 December in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 497, signed in July this year and titled On Some Measures to Improve Access to Mobile Internet. The plan will now be sent to the State Secretariat of Administration for further approval by the country’s Cabinet of Ministers.
It is not yet clear how and where these frequencies will be employed or auctioned, but this is another example of the urgency in many countries of the push to find or repurpose spectrum as demand for 4G and 5G puts pressure on existing resources.
