On October 11, people in the British telecom industry worried that in Apple's upcoming 5G version of the iPhone, support for the country's 5G network may be limited, and may not even include support for 700 MHz networks.

It is believed that 5G will be an important feature of the 2020 iPhone, and this new communication technology is expected to provide consumers with high-speed connections. However, Apple's popular iPhone may cause problems for many operators, depending on Apple's implementation of the technology.

Analysts said that if Apple chooses not to include support for the 700 MHz 5G frequency band, this may prevent it from fully cooperating with operators that use the technology to build networks. Operators are expected to participate in the 700 MHz spectrum auction organized by the national regulator of the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which will be held in early 2021.

Operators have the opportunity to reuse their own, unused spectrum for 5G communications, and reuse the already used frequency bands for the same purpose, but most operators choose to wait for auctions to obtain more spectrum. The problem is that the existing configuration of the operator has reached the maximum capacity.

Operator Three is obviously an exception, because the company already has a considerable amount of 5G spectrum, which is expected to be used by the iPhone. If Apple does not support the 700 MHz frequency band, this will give Three a considerable advantage in the UK.

This will be similar to what happened during the launch of the iPhone 5, when EE was the only trusted operator with adequate 4G coverage on the market.

5G analyst Simon Rockman said that after the auction, the deployment of the 700 MHz 5G network will be "quite fast," "because the network really needs it." Rockman also said that if Apple does not provide 700 MHz support, the British telecommunications industry may "miss the opportunity."

Assembly analyst Matthew Howett warned that the lack of support for 700 MHz may also lead to "coverage problems" for consumers, after all, "the frequency band used by the iPhone is critical."

For British operators who are expected to launch new models on the 13th, discussions on spectrum support may be a bit late. Since Apple did not give any indication of which frequency bands it will support or not support before the release, this concern may be completely unfounded.

The telecom network called 5G actually covers two different spectrum areas, namely Sub-6GHz and millimeter wave. Among them, the Sub-6GHz frequency band will provide operators with extensive coverage, and the highly durable frequency band used is somewhat close to the range currently used by operators. This includes T-Mobile's 600 MHz-based 5G network, which actually consists of only 600 MHz spectrum.

The overall speed of 5G is provided by the millimeter wave spectrum in the range of 24 GHz to 100 GHz, which can provide users with gigabit speed connections. However, the millimeter wave signal is very fragile, easily blocked by the surface or even rain, and the working distance is much shorter. For operators, this means that millimeter wave 5G will be reserved for densely populated cities and built-up areas, and the Sub-6GHz frequency band will be used for full coverage. All of these will be classified as 5G, and most consumers will use the slower version most of the time. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate