5G is one of the great innovations in the world of mobile telephony and a competitive advantage for operators with their own network. For this reason, its arrival at the main MVNOs in our country has not finished taking place. After learning about the 2022 economic-sectoral report from the National Markets and Competition Commission, we believe we suspect the reasons why Digi or Finetwork do not have 5G.
Almost 3 years ago the fifth generation of mobile telephony began to be deployed in our country. At a difficult time to make large investments, it was surprising to see how large operators quickly reached high percentages of 5G coverage.
However, what was behind this rapid expansion was soon discovered and it was nothing more than a technical shortcut known as DSS. Known by the acronym of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, it is, broadly speaking, a software improvement that mixes 5G and 4G in the same base station, distributing the available spectrum between both types of coverage. The problem is that we are not facing “real” 5G and it affects the capacity of 4G in those base stations.
The user sees the 5G icon on his mobile, but the reality is that it does not improve the speed of 4G in most of the tests carried out. At the marketing level, it has been a good movement to be able to talk about large percentages of coverage, but it was not until 2023 when 5G SA or commercially known as 5G+ began to be talked about (and deployed) massively.
And what does DSS have to do with MVNOs?
Well, the truth is that quite a lot. In Spain, 3 frequency bands were identified to provide 5G coverage to users. One of these bands is 700 MHz, but the latest report from the CNMC confirms that it is being used mainly to reinforce 4G through the use of DSS. In this case, of the 10,184 5G base stations, 8,150 offer fourth-generation connectivity when that should not be the case.
The CNMC explains in this regard that:
“Despite the fact that the 700 MHz band is one of those identified to provide 5G technology coverage, various operators have stated that they currently use this frequency band also to maximize 4G technology coverage. The cause would be the use of DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) technology in the 700 MHz band, which makes it possible to offer 4G and 5G services through the same frequency band. This is a provisional solution that operators are applying while the number of mobile terminals that are capable of receiving 5G coverage through this band is expected to increase.
In the medium term, these operators estimate that this functionality will be deactivated and the 700 MHz band will be used exclusively for pure 5G users, either NSA (Non Stand Alone) or SA (Stand Alone)”.
The operators are betting on reinforcing the 4G network instead of only installing 5G in a massive way in the bands designed for it. The official excuse is that there are still few compatible mobile terminals, something that has been said whenever a new technology has arrived to delay its implementation. Many believe that the step of giving MVNOs access to 5G should be taken to relieve congestion on 4G networks, but movements such as the implementation of DSS at 700 MHz tell us that it is not among the priorities of companies with their own network.
For this reason, the clients of the MVNOs will have to continue waiting for these operators to give in or to finalize the private agreements signed with them. Without going any further, Digi has an agreement with Movistar until 2026, at which time it will be time to renegotiate the terms and that’s when 5G would come into play.
