Cullen International’s research shows that only four of the 11 Americas countries researched allocated spectrum for private networks, with each of these four choosing to allocate mid-band spectrum.

Businesses need private spectrum to meet their new connectivity requirements, for example, to connect thousands of wireless devices simultaneously, at low latency, providing real-time monitoring and greater efficiency. Examples of use cases include factory automation, business parks, local networks in ports or airports, connected cars or agricultural projects.

Regulators are starting to designate segments of spectrum for use in private networks , i.e. not using the public mobile networks. As 5G is one of the technologies used by industry networks (so-called verticals), Cullen International’s new Americas Spectrum benchmark focuses on regulatory initiatives to allocate and award spectrum for such private 5G networks.

Chile was the first country in Latin America to allocate and assign specific bands for industrial use, allocating the 3.75–3.8GHz band. Brazil allocated the 3.8 GHz band and approved technical conditions for the use of radio frequency bands for private networks in the 450 MHz, 1.5 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 4.8 GHz and 28 GHz bands. In North America, Canada allocated the 3.9 GHz band, and the USA allocated the 3.5 GHz band. In addition, Colombia opened the 3.5 GHz band for trials that may include industrial 5G networks.

To access the full benchmark on 11 countries in the Americas, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our Americas Spectrum service.