The decisions of the World Radiocommunication Conference promote the development of 5G and 6G networks in accordance with Finland's goals

Our society relies more and more on wireless connections. The goal of the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC23) was to enable the introduction of new technologies and services for wireless systems on land, sea, and in air and space. At WRC23, the conditions for the use of radio frequencies were agreed between different uses, ensuring the most efficient and interference-free use of the frequencies.

Finland participated in decision-making at the conference and was globally influencing future communication services to ensure competitiveness and international accessibility.

Finland achieved the goals regarding the future use of 5G and 6G systems

"For Finland, the most important decisions were related to the availability of frequencies for 5G and 6G systems in the future," says Sabina Lindström, Director General of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. In particular, in order to secure the increase in the data transmission capacity of 5G systems, the frequency band 6425–7125 MHz was assigned to these systems, for example in Europe. The use of 5G in the future will require national and EU-level decisions later. The decisions of the conference, which will come into force a year from now, also improve the possibilities of using frequencies in the frequency band 3600–3800 MHz.

In accordance with Finland's goals, it was decided that research regarding the future 6G systems was put on the agenda of the next conference, WRC27. "During the next four years, Finland will invest in these studies, taking into account the current use of the identified frequency bands and the possibilities of using 6G systems in addition to the current use," states Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom's Director-General Kirsi Karlamaa.

The mobile use of the UHF frequency band was widely opposed at the conference, as expected. In line with the European policy, the UHF frequency range was allocated at this conference for secondary mobile use. The matter will be revisited after the 2027 conference and the next opportunity to make changes was moved to the agenda of the 2031 conference (WRC31). This is a step towards enabling a more flexible and efficient use of the frequency range in the future, which Finland has been pushing for.

Wide range of delegates from Finland

The Ministry of Transport and Communications as well as the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom represented Finland at the conference Representatives from Nokia, Telia, Iceye, Digita and the Finnish Defence Forces were present. Representatives of Yle (the Finnish Broadcasting Company) and The Finnish Amateur Radio League SRAL participated in the conference remotely.

The World Radiocommunication Conference is held every 3 to 4 years. This year the conference was held in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai from 20 November to 15 December 2023. Over 3900 delegates from more than 163 member countries attended the conference. In addition, almost 300 representatives of international organisations, device manufacturers, network operators and industrial operators followed the WRC decisions. The WRC was organised by the International Telecommunication Union ITU. The conference decisions are legally binding to all 196 ITU member countries.