WRC-27: the UK proposes to oppose IMT identification in three of four bands
In short: WRC-27 will decide whether four frequency ranges are identified for mobile use in the international treaty governing radio spectrum. Ofcom is minded to oppose three and to support one, 7125 to 7250 MHz, on which UK alignment with Europe in the upper 6 GHz band depends. Every position is provisional and responses close at 5pm on 24 November 2026.
A mobile operator planning capacity for the 2030s needs bands that handset and equipment makers are building for worldwide, because a band used in one country alone costs more and offers less choice of kit. Which bands qualify is decided by international treaty, not by Ofcom alone. The treaty is revised at a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), and the next of them, WRC-27, opens in Shanghai on 18 October 2027. Ofcom asked UK stakeholders on 1 September 2026 what the country’s positions there should be. On mobile spectrum its provisional answer is mostly no: of the four frequency ranges under consideration, it would support an identification in one.
How the UK’s WRC-27 position is made
The Radio Regulations are an international treaty, maintained by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which allocates the radio spectrum from 9 kHz to 275 GHz between services and sets the conditions of use. A WRC revises that treaty roughly every four years, and the revisions take effect when administrations sign the Final Acts, the treaty text agreed at the conference.
Ofcom leads the UK delegation on the government’s behalf. Under section 22(1)(d) of the Communications Act 2003 Ofcom has a duty, where the Secretary of State requires it, to provide representation on behalf of the government at international meetings about communications, and under section 22(3) it must carry out that function in accordance with the Secretary of State’s directions. Ofcom said it undertakes the role under a government direction and that it will confirm its positions with government across the agenda items.
The UK’s regional body for this work is the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), which develops European Common Proposals (ECPs) in the four years between conferences, and Ofcom said it anticipates signing most if not all of them. CEPT approves initial ECPs in March 2027 and the final set at its meeting of 30 August to 3 September 2027, which is why the response date of 24 November 2026 matters more than the conference date.
Key points
- Ofcom published the call for input on UK preparations for WRC-27 on 1 September 2026, closing 24 November 2026. Source: Ofcom.
- Agenda item 1.7, on identifying spectrum for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT, the ITU term for mobile network technologies including 5G and 6G), covers 4400 to 4800 MHz, 7125 to 7250 MHz, 7250 to 8400 MHz and 14.8 to 15.35 GHz. Source: Ofcom.
- Ofcom said it remains unconvinced that a clear case for more mobile spectrum has been made, and that the UK opposed the inclusion of agenda item 1.7 when the WRC-27 agenda was set in 2023. Source: Ofcom.
- Of the nineteen substantive agenda items, Ofcom rated three high priority: mobile identification, direct-to-device satellite connectivity, and protection for space weather sensors. Source: Ofcom, Annex 5.
- In its statement of 20 July 2026 Ofcom gave Wi-Fi priority in 6425 to 6585 MHz and mobile priority in 6585 to 7125 MHz. Source: Ofcom.
- Ofcom put the four mobile ranges at Questions 13a to 13d of Annex 4, and set no nationality condition on who may respond. Source: Ofcom, Annexes 1 and 4.
| Frequency range | What Ofcom is minded to do | The reason Ofcom gives |
|---|---|---|
| 4400 to 4800 MHz (ITU Region 1, broadly Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Region 3, Asia-Pacific) | Oppose an IMT identification | Military systems operate in the band, including in international waters and airspace, and Ofcom assesses coexistence with mobile networks as difficult |
| 7125 to 7250 MHz | Support an IMT identification, in line with CEPT | Current UK use is programme making and special events (PMSE) and space research, including deep space uplinks from the Goonhilly earth station; Ofcom judges the interference manageable |
| 7250 to 8400 MHz | Oppose an IMT identification | Coordination with satellite earth station receivers is difficult, and Earth observation and meteorological downlinks would need protection |
| 14.8 to 15.35 GHz | Oppose an IMT identification | Military fixed, mobile and airborne systems operate in the band, and Ofcom doubts the spectrum would be useful to mobile networks in the foreseeable future |
Defence and space incumbents account for three of the four bands
In 4400 to 4800 MHz, which is under consideration for ITU Region 1 (broadly Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Russian Federation) and Region 3 (Asia-Pacific) but not the Americas, Ofcom’s stated concern is interference to military systems, including systems operating in international waters and airspace. The reasoning in 14.8 to 15.35 GHz is the same, with a second limb: Ofcom also doubts that band would be useful to mobile networks in the foreseeable future.
In 7250 to 8400 MHz Ofcom opposes an identification because of satellite and science use. It points to the difficulty of coordinating mobile networks with transportable and mobile satellite earth station receivers, to the aggregate interference a mobile uplink would produce into satellites, and to the number and location of Earth exploration-satellite and meteorological earth stations that would need protection. Immediately above the band the UK supports a new passive allocation for sea surface temperature measurement, so an identification would also need emission limits above 8400 MHz to protect it.
Two of the three refusals protect Ministry of Defence systems and the third protects satellite and Earth observation users. Ofcom frames each of them as a coexistence question about those incumbents, and separately records that the UK, with CEPT, did not support putting agenda item 1.7 on the WRC-27 agenda at the last conference and remains unconvinced that a clear case for more spectrum has been made. The four ranges went on the agenda anyway.
What 7125 to 7250 MHz decides for UK and European alignment
Ofcom’s support for 7125 to 7250 MHz follows from a domestic decision the UK has already taken. In its statement of 20 July 2026 Ofcom decided to make 6425 to 6585 MHz available for Wi-Fi without waiting for WRC-27, and to run a prioritised split in the upper 6 GHz band with a mobile priority portion in 6585 to 7125 MHz. The consequences for the incumbent fixed links in the mobile portion, and for the high-density areas where licensed use takes priority, are set out separately.
Ofcom assesses that identifying 7125 to 7250 MHz for IMT, which would add 125 MHz above the mobile priority portion, would make full UK and European alignment more likely and bring the wider device market that alignment supports. The EU’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), which advises the European Commission, the Parliament and the Council, reads the same spectrum the opposite way round. In its Opinion on a long-term vision for the upper 6 GHz band of 12 November 2025 the RSPG said that if WRC-27 identifies 7125 to 7250 MHz for IMT there is a strong case for designating 6425 to 6585 MHz for Wi-Fi, and that if WRC-27 does not, there is a strong case for designating that same 160 MHz for mobile instead, in each case absent significant new developments.
Ofcom has already given that same 160 MHz to Wi-Fi in the UK. The UK took its decision in July 2026 and the EU has reserved its own until after November 2027, so both depend on the same conference vote, which gives Wi-Fi interests, mobile operators and the PMSE users still in the band a reason to treat the November 2026 response date as a live one, and gives the UK a reason to put its view into the CEPT brief that becomes the European proposals.
Implications for operators, satellite users and incumbents
An IMT identification does not grant spectrum. It is a footnote to the international table of frequency allocations recording that a band is available for mobile use, and equipment makers build to that record once it exists. Use of the spectrum in the UK still requires a licence or a licence exemption under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, and the decision on domestic availability, timing and conditions remains Ofcom’s. WRC-27 decides whether the option exists and on what terms other services must be protected.
The satellite items outnumber the mobile ones on the WRC-27 agenda. Ofcom rated direct connectivity between satellites and standard handsets a high priority and would support an international framework for those services in bands already identified for mobile. It noted that the UK services enabled by its own 2025 decision operate under Radio Regulation No. 4.4, under which a station assigned in derogation of the table of allocations must not cause harmful interference to stations operating in accordance with the Radio Regulations and cannot claim protection from interference itself, and that the object of the agenda item is to remove that reliance. Until it is removed, a UK direct-to-device service carries its own interference exposure, and how that exposure is shared between a satellite operator and a mobile network operator is a commercial question, because the treaty does not answer it.
Our telecoms product launch advice page covers the questions that arise when a launch depends on spectrum that is not yet available, and the spectrum page covers the UK authorisation routes.
Making representations, and what a response can change
Ofcom calls its positions preliminary, says that on some agenda items its position is still developing, and says it needs input from stakeholders to decide the best course of action in the European meetings and at the conference. The language on the four mobile ranges is provisional throughout: Ofcom is currently minded to support 7125 to 7250 MHz, and each refusal is put as a current view, a current preference or a current assessment of coexistence. A stakeholder with evidence that coexistence works in a band Ofcom has provisionally opposed is arguing against a position that is not yet fixed.
Responding costs little. Ofcom asked for views by 5pm on 24 November 2026, on its response form or by email to a mailbox opened for this consultation, and said a short response on a single point is fine and that it welcomes joint responses. It also asked respondents to say why they hold a view and what effect they think its proposals would have, and each of the three refusals depends on evidence about incumbent systems.
Ofcom set no nationality condition on responses. An equipment manufacturer or an operator outside the UK has an interest in whether a band carries a harmonised identification, and can say so directly. The standing UK working groups are narrower, open to stakeholders with a relevant interest in international spectrum matters and a significant and relevant UK presence, with an Ofcom contact point for each group at Annex 6. The UK is also one administration among the 46 CEPT members, each free to sign each European Common Proposal, so the European position is formed across those members and not by Ofcom alone.
Perspective
Ofcom consults domestically as an independent regulator weighing its own statutory duties, but at WRC-27 it represents the government under a direction, and it has told stakeholders it will confirm its positions with government across the agenda items. A response arguing spectrum efficiency to Ofcom, on a band whose constraint is a Ministry of Defence system, is addressed to a body that cannot resolve the point on its own.
Ofcom marked only three of the nineteen agenda items high priority in Annex 5 to its call for input. Two are commercial: mobile identification, where Ofcom would refuse most of what is proposed, and direct-to-device, where it would support an international framework. The third is protection for receive-only space weather sensors, which the Radio Regulations do not recognise and which has no commercial backer, and Ofcom has put it level with the two items the industry cares about most. Anyone whose interest lies in the medium and low priority items is competing for Ofcom’s attention as well as arguing a position.
Frequently asked questions
When does the UK’s WRC-27 position become fixed?
Ofcom said final UK positions are adopted only a few weeks before WRC-27 opens on 18 October 2027. The practical constraint arrives earlier: CEPT approves initial European Common Proposals in March 2027 and the final set at its meeting ending on 3 September 2027, and Ofcom anticipates signing most if not all of them.
Would an IMT identification give UK operators access to the band?
No. An identification marks a band in the Radio Regulations as available for International Mobile Telecommunications and supports a harmonised equipment market, but it confers no right to transmit. Use in the UK requires a licence or a licence exemption under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, and Ofcom decides separately whether, when and on what conditions to make the spectrum available.
What happens to the UK Wi-Fi allocation at 6425 to 6585 MHz if WRC-27 does not identify 7125 to 7250 MHz?
The UK decision stands on its own, because Ofcom decided in July 2026 to make 6425 to 6585 MHz available for Wi-Fi without waiting for WRC-27, so the exposure is to alignment. The RSPG said that without an identification at 7125 to 7250 MHz there is a strong case for designating 6425 to 6585 MHz for primary mobile use in the EU, which would leave the UK and the EU with different uses for the same 160 MHz.
Can a non-UK operator or equipment manufacturer respond?
Yes. Ofcom asked for views from any stakeholder with an interest in the WRC-27 agenda and set no nationality condition on responses, and it welcomes joint responses and short responses on a single question. The standing UK working groups are different. Ofcom opens those to stakeholders with a relevant interest in international spectrum matters and a significant and relevant UK presence, and names a contact point for each group at Annex 6 to the call for input.
If you are an operator or an equipment manufacturer, in the UK or outside it, weighing whether to respond to the call for input, Bratby Law advises on spectrum regulation and on representations to regulators. Contact Rob Bratby.
