Nearly 10 percent of all LTE operators have now deployed 5G and nearly 8 percent have launched 5G, according to GSA.

348 mobile operators in 119 countries announced they were investing in 5G. The report did not mention about the Capex of 5G operators.

77 operators had announced that they had deployed 3GPP compliant 5G technology in their networks.

61 operators in 34 countries had launched one or more 3GPP-compliant 5G services, GSA said.

Of those, 49 operators had launched 3GPP-compliant 5G mobile services (46 full launches, 3 limited availability launches). 34 operators had launched 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA or home broadband services (27 full launches, 7 limited availability launches).

C-Band spectrum

Since 2015 GSA has identified 23 countries that have auctioned or allocated C-Band spectrum for mobile broadband.

The fees paid range from USD$0.002 per MHz per Pop (per person)  (Slovakia, Norway and Romania) to USD$0.424 per MHz per Pop in Italy.

France has approved an unusual procedure for allocation of C-Band licences to use spectrum in the 3410–3800 MHz range. In an initial allocation procedure, four 50 MHz blocks will be available at a fixed price of €350 million per block ($0.117/MHz/Pop).

This will put it between UK and Hong Kong in terms of spectrum licensing costs. GSA said subsequently additional 10 MHz blocks will then be made available by auction at a reserve price of €70 million for 10 MHz blocks.

5G chipsets

Qualcomm launched 5G chipsets called Snapdragon 855+. Huawei launched Kirin 990 SoC for 5G smartphones.

Mediatek’s 5G smartphone chipset Dimensity 1000 will be available in Q1 2020. Samsung will have S8600 and S9100 modems. Qualcomm will have Snapdragon 6, 7 and 8-Series 5G chipsets.