The World Radiocommunication Conference-23 (WRC-23), an international negotiation event for the international distribution of frequencies, successfully identified candidate frequencies for the development of 6th generation (6G) mobile communication. In particular, three of the four candidate bands proposed by Korea were finally adopted.
On Dec. 17, the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT announced that WRC-23 was successfully held. WRC-23 is the highest decision-making meeting organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to decide on important matters in the field of frequency distribution and radio communication around the world.
This year’s meeting was held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and was attended by representatives from the governments of 162 countries and more than 3,800 related experts for four weeks, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 15.
The Korean government organized a delegation of 49 public and private experts, including those from the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of National Defense, the National Radio Research Agency and Samsung Electronics, and took the lead in international discussions on 23 agenda items, including telecommunications, satellites, maritime aviation, and science. Furthermore, the delegation made various efforts to strengthen global frequency cooperation by holding talks with representatives of more than 15 major countries including the United States, China, and Japan to expand policy assistance.
In preparation for the 6G era, Korea has been actively engaging with countries in the Asia-Pacific region including the United States and conducting international cooperation activities to discover 6G frequency resources. In particular, the Korean delegation has taken the lead in developing agendas for the next WRC by proposing the 4.4 to 15.35 GHz band as a 6G candidate band, which has not been discussed at the WRC so far.
As a result, out of the four 6G candidate bands proposed by Korea at the meeting, three bands with a total width of 2.2 GHz including 4.4 to 4.8 GHz (partial band), 7.125 to 8.5 GHz (partial band), and 14.8 to 15.35 GHz were finally adopted as 6G candidate bands. The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to take a more active role in 6G technology development and standardization discussions by 2027.
The protection of Korea’s WiFi services will also be strengthened. Currently, Korea uses WiFi in the 6 GHz band along with the United States. Korea specified the use of WiFi in the 6 GHz band in the ITU’s frequency regulations through cooperation with the United States.
This marked the first time that WiFi-related regulations have appeared in the radio regulations. Experts say that the WRC created an environment in which WiFi services can be used stably without interference in the 6 GHz band, which will be actively used for the purpose of improving the speed and quality of WiFi services in the future.
Life safety functions in the maritime and aviation sectors have also been enhanced. At the WRC, new frequencies for air traffic control were allocated for satellites which will help eliminate dead-service zones on high seas via satellites. In addition, the Korean delegation agreed to discuss and cooperate with the U.S. and French governments and global service providers such as Globalstar to ensure that SOS text services using satellites can be provided stably.
The WRC set conditions for the operation of a new ESIM service via non-geostationary orbiting satellites to provide convenient access to the Internet on airplanes and ships as well. As ESIM service regulations were created at the WRC, its high-speed internet services using satellites will be easily provided on airplanes and ships in the future, experts forecast.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it will dispatch Korean telecommunications experts to the ITU in the first half of next year in accordance with an MOU on the dispatch of civilian 6G experts signed with the ITU in August. Their dispatch is expected to lay the foundation for Korea taking the lead in discussions on a 6G frequency discovery at the 2027 WRC meeting.