December 11, 2020 Results of Appeal for Opinions on Draft Notice, etc. Based on Regulations for Procedure for Obtaining a Radio Station License for Areas to Establish Radio Stations and Release of Revised Guidelines

In response to a frequency band expansion for local 5G, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) made an appeal for opinions from Thursday, October 15 through Monday, November 16, 2020. This appeal was on a draft notice based on the Regulations for Procedure for Obtaining a Radio Station License for areas to establish radio stations, a draft directive for a partial revision to the Examination Standards related to the Radio Act, and a draft revision to the Guidelines for Local 5G Implementation.
As a result, MIC received 18 opinions. Accordingly, MIC will open the submitted opinions and MIC’s views on the opinions to the public, along with the revised Guidelines for Local 5G Implementation.

1. Background and overview

According to each region and industry’s individual needs, local 5G is a system that can be flexibly used by various entities, such as local companies and local governments throughout Japan. Local 5G is expected to be a trump card that will realize problem solutions and the revitalization of various regions throughout Japan. In June 2019, a set of technical conditions was made up in advance for a frequency range of 28.2 to 28.3 GHz, and MIC made institutional development for the technical conditions in December of the same year.
MIC sent an inquiry to the Radio Regulatory Council on a draft ministerial ordinance to partially revise the Regulations for Enforcement of the Radio Act and pertinent conditions to expand the conventional frequency band for local 5G to 4.6 through 4.9 GHz and 28.3 through 29.1 GHz and realize the asynchronous operation of local 5G. MIC received a report on October 12, 2020 and is in the process of institutional development. Furthermore, according to the amendments, the positions of local 5G antennas may be changed within the range where the radio wave strength does not increase for indoor use without applications for the change as long as a notification is submitted.
Recently, MIC drafted revisions to the Notice based on Procedure for Obtaining a Radio Station License, the Directive for a Partial Revision to the Examination Standards related to the Radio Act, the Guidelines for Local 5G Implementation, and made an appeal for the drafts. As a result, MIC received 18 opinions.

2. Results of appeal for opinions

Based on the appeal for opinions, MIC has revised the Guidelines for Local 5G Implementation.

3. Future plans

MIC will promulgate and enforce the relevant ministerial ordinance and notice on Friday, December 18, 2020, and start accepting applications for licenses in the local 5G extended frequency band. MIC will enact the official directive on the same day.