Three out of four 6G candidate frequency bands proposed by Korea were ultimately adopted.

From November 20 to December 15, 3,800 experts from 162 countries participated in the WRC-23, the highest decision-making meeting for deciding on important matters in the field of frequency allocation and radiocommunications, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). A total of 49 experts from the public and private sectors, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Radio Research Agency, and Samsung Electronics, participated in the event held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said, “As a result of proactively participating in international discussions on a total of 23 agendas, including mobile communications, satellites, maritime aviation, and science, we have strengthened global frequency cooperation by leading policy cooperation through bilateral meetings with about 15 major countries, including the U.S., China, and Japan.”

Recently, the industry has focused on the importance of the upper-mid band (7-24 GHz) that can satisfy both capacity and coverage as a candidate 6G frequency. At this WRC, our delegation also proposed the 4.4-15.35 GHz band as a candidate band for 6G.

Among the four 6G candidate bands proposed by our country, three bands, including △4.4-4.8GHz (some bands) △7.125-8.4GHz (some bands) △14.8-15.35GHz, a total of 2.2GHz, were finally adopted as 6G candidate bands. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to participate more proactively in discussions on 6G technology development and standardization by 2027.

In this WRC, our country, through cooperation with the United States, also specified the use of WiFi in the 6GHz band in the ITU Radio Regulations. This is the first time that WiFi-related regulations have appeared in the Radio Regulations, and it is expected that the environment will be created where WiFi services can be used stably without radio interference in the 6GHz band, which will be actively used in the future for the purpose of speeding up and improving quality of WiFi services, and service protection will be strengthened.

In addition, as the air traffic control frequency in the maritime and aviation sectors is newly allocated to satellites, it has become possible to eliminate dead zones in satellite-based communications on the high seas. In addition, it has been agreed to discuss and cooperate with the U.S. and French governments and global service providers such as Globalstar to ensure the stable provision of satellite-based SOS text services.

The operating conditions for a new service (ESIM) via non-geostationary satellites that will allow convenient use of the Internet on aircraft and ships have also been established. Previously, it was necessary to build and use a satellite antenna fixed to a specific location, but with the creation of this operating regulation, it is expected that high-speed Internet services using satellites will be easily provided on aircraft and ships in the future.

In addition, a regulation was newly established to protect not only the public satellites currently in operation in our country but also the public communication satellites scheduled to be launched in the future from the non-geostationary satellite system. This will enable our satellite network to operate stably without radio interference.

This meeting also included the first discussion on space weather. Space radio disasters caused by environmental changes between the sun and the Earth can cause significant damage to satellites, ground communications, and power generation facilities, so it is important to establish a foundation for advance protection.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it plans to dispatch domestic mobile communications experts to the ITU in the first half of next year in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the dispatch of civilian experts for 6G signed with the ITU in August 2023, and that it is expected that this dispatch of experts will lay the foundation for Korea to secure the initiative in discussions on 6G frequency exploration at the 2027 WRC conference.