The 2600-megahertz spectrum range is the best option for 5G adoption in Thailand, topping the 3500MHz, 700MHz and even the 26- and 28GHz ranges, says Huawei Technologies Thailand.
In addition, the 5G wireless broadband spectrum licence auction should be reasonably priced to benefit vertical industries and the overall economy, said the company.
Auction prices in some 20 countries that already auctioned 5G spectrum licences were only 25% of 4G licences on average.
Phatcharadhan Phonakkarawat, manager for wireless products at Huawei Technologies Thailand, said the 2600MHz range is the best candidate for the 5G spectrum in Thailand.
Mr Phatcharadhan said the 700MHz range in Thailand has only 45MHz of bandwidth (or 45x2 MHz for upload and download), which is too narrow a spectrum and does not allow high peak usage for 5G adoption.
Although the 3500MHz range or middle band is the "golden spectrum" for 5G globally, coexisting with the satellite service provider would be challenging, he said.
In Thailand, the 3500-3800MHz ranges are partly used by satellite business provider Thaicom.
The high-frequency ranges such as 26- and 28GHz (26,000 and 28,000MHz) require a higher density of network roll-out for efficient communications, as they are appropriate for serving heavy data transmissions in each area, called capacity bands.
The 26- and 28GHz spectrum ranges are also partially used by Thaicom.
Mr Phatcharadhan said the 2600MHz range is most suitable because operators can install cell sites as major infrastructure for data traffic nationwide, called coverage bands.
The range could also serve as a capacity band as the roll-out nationwide does not cost too much.
He said 5G spectrum costs should not be a financial burden to operators.
In China, said Mr Phatcharadhan, the government gave the 2600MHz range to China Mobile to provide 5G, with the 3500MHz range allotted to China Telecom and China Unicom.
The move aims to enable 5G adoption in China, making it competitive with others.
"This year 5G smartphones are expected to be launched and we see the lowest price for such commercial phones in 2022 being 7,000-8,000 baht per unit," he said.
The telecom regulator is in the process of recalling unused bandwidth of 190MHz on the 2600MHz range to prepare spectrum bandwidth for the 5G auction.
The 190MHz of bandwidth includes 154MHz held by state-owned broadcaster MCOT and another 12MHz held by the Royal Thai Army.
The other 24MHz was transferred by the Public Relations Department to the telecom regulator.
