US Announces Reallocation of 3.5 GHz Spectrum for Consumer 5G in December 2021

Over the past three years, engineers and carriers across the world have largely agreed that 3.5GHz-adjacent radio spectrum is ideal for 5G deployments — a “mid band” compromise between the lower frequencies used by older cellular standards and the higher, shorter-distance millimeter wave frequencies. But in the United States, the Department of Defense (DoD) has controlled much of the mid band spectrum, creating a tension between military and potential consumer applications. Today, the White House announced that the DoD has agreed to relinquish 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum for commercial use, a process that will augment U.S. 5G networks over the next two years.