Federal Communications Commission to launch new generation cellular network plans

The Federal Communications Commission is set to launch details for cellular networks that could send gigantic streams of data to users, but there remained technical challenges to be solved and years of work ahead, Ars Technica reported.

A Notice of Inquiry issued by the commission on Friday identified frequencies of 24GHz and above as capable of providing gigabit or even 10Gbps speed.

This would be a major change as modern cellular networks used frequencies from 600MHz to 3GHz, with so-called ''beachfront spectrum'' under 1GHz being the most desirable because given that it could be used to deliver data over long distances.

Most of the beachfront spectrum is with AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

"It was long assumed that higher spectrum frequencies - like those above 24 GHz - could not support mobile services due to technological and practical limitations," the FCC said in a press release.

"New technologies are challenging that assumption and promise to facilitate next generation mobile service-what some call '5G' - with the potential to dramatically increase wireless broadband speeds."

Rather than supplanting today's lower-spectrum systems, networks with frequencies of 24GHz and above could complement them providing much higher data rates over short distances - perhaps very short.

A new Wi-Fi standard using 60GHz could deliver up to 7Gbps but only if the transmitter and receiver were in the same room, for example.

Millimeter waves worked best over short distances and had required a direct line-of-sight connection to a receiver. They were now used mostly for point-to-point microwave connections, Reuters reported.

According to the FCC, it would study what technologies could overcome obstacles and the kind of regulatory regime that could help a variety of technologies to flourish on those airwaves, including the potential for services other than mobile.

Even as the US wireless industry focused on deploying the 4G connections, some equipment manufacturers, such as Samsung were already testing data transmission on the higher frequencies.

"While we will always work to locate more cleared licensed spectrum under 3 GHz, we also need to expand our search to find other complementary spectrum bands, and this Notice is an important step in that effort," Meredith Attwell Baker, head of CTIA-The Wireless Association, said in a statement.