The Feasibility of Coexistence Between 5G and Existing Services in the IMT-2020 Candidate Bands in Malaysia

Abstract

In 2015, the international telecommunication union (ITU) proposed 11 candidate millimeter wave bands between 24 and 86 GHz for the deployment of future fifth mobile generation (5G) broadband systems. Furthermore, the ITU called for spectrum-sharing studies in these bands. Since 5G specifications are not yet defined, the utilization of radio spectrum by 5G mobile systems will assist in identifying these specifications. This paper introduces Malaysia as a case study for the deployment of 5G systems. This includes a discussion of the current status of the Malaysian telecommunication market. Then, we investigate the current services that are already deployed in the proposed bands. Our investigation shows that the fixed (F) service is the most deployed as a primary service in the candidate bands. For this reason, a preliminary spectrum-sharing study is conducted on the basis of a modified 5G spectrum-sharing model to evaluate the feasibility of coexistence between 5G and F services in the 28-GHz band. Our modified methodology can be used for spectrum-sharing studies between 5G and any other services for an initial spectrum-sharing investigation. The results show that the F service will be severely affected by the 5G system transition in the 28-GHz band, especially in the base station (BS)-to-BS sharing scenario. The best band from the perspective of current spectrum allocation for 5G systems is the 45-GHz (i.e., 45.5-47 GHz) band, since it is already reserved for mobile service for primary allocation and not utilized. This paper is carried out concurrently with current worldwide efforts investigating spectrum sharing, as requested by the ITU in agenda item 1.13 for the next world radio conference 2019.