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Event round up: UK Spectrum Policy Forum October Plenary 2026

4 November 20263 min read
Event Round-up
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The UK Spectrum Policy Forum held its final plenary in 2026 on 22 October. The centrepiece was the launch of an independent study, commissioned by the Forum, on future UK spectrum user demand over the next 10 to 15 years.  

The study’s starting point is that demand is set to soar, but traffic volumes alone miss much of the picture: geographic coverage, simultaneous connections and the consequences of service failure matter just as much. Five macro trends frame the analysis: space assets, mass commercial drone use, AI and edge computing, telemetry and automation, and concern about GPS denial and radio frequency resilience.  

Read the report here

Focusing on spectrum below 10 GHz, the study identifies 400 MHz–1 GHz as the most contended range today, with mobile, digital terrestrial TV and PMSE competing for scarce spectrum that has few substitutes. The 3–6 GHz range is the main area of emerging contention as private networks and aerial links join mobile and Wi-Fi.  

Three use cases were selected from a long list of 14 for detailed analysis:  

  • rural telemetry and distributed energy resources,  

  • low-altitude aerial platforms, and  

  • temporary drone-enabled network extensions.  

 The resulting priorities are shared access below 1 GHz and a review of licence-exempt arrangements for rural use, coverage at altitude, and standing authorisations with pre-agreed sharing for pop-up networks, all underpinned by stronger evidence and trials.  Questions from the floor probed how band pressure was rated, which the authors acknowledged involves judgement, and noted that other countries face similar challenges.  

Spectrum takes to the skies 

A panel drawing on aviation, transport policy, network operation and research then picked up the aerial theme. One clarification, the 978 MHz band supports electronic conspicuity, letting drones and crewed aircraft see each other, not drone control. Options for command-and-control links include mobile networks, aeronautical spectrum around 5 GHz and the heavily used 450 MHz band.  

Several participants argued that “coverage at altitude” is the wrong frame. Networks are optimised for phones held around 1.4 metres above the ground, yet drones and robots operate from ankle height upwards. What matters is service at altitude, with separate performance targets for control, safety and payload links that vary between city and countryside.  

For incident response and infrastructure monitoring, the critical need is a high-bandwidth uplink for live video, often in remote areas where transport and critical infrastructure sit but commercial coverage is thin. Trials of low-power airborne and tethered base stations, including a light aircraft carrying a 5G network as an alternative to helicopters for live event coverage, showed what is already possible.  

The discussion also turned to longevity. With eCall services tied to networks being switched off, participants stressed forward compatibility for drones and transport assets built to last decades. Operations over water, devolved responsibilities and international aviation add complexity. Beaming solar power from space at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz was flagged as a possible future agenda item.  

What’s next for the Forum 

The plenary closed with updates from the Forum’s clusters: 

  • Demand: a half-day session in the new year will develop practical demand metrics that go beyond mobile broadband forecasts to capture machine-to-machine traffic, physical AI, resilience and declining use cases. The impact of the EU’s Digital Networks Act on the UK is also on the radar. 

  • Long-range issues: more focused panel sessions, closer work on spectrum sharing, and events with international partners facing similar challenges. 

  • Value and sharing: continued work on critical infrastructure resilience, including the 450 MHz and 700 MHz bands, and a strategic review of shared access in the upper n77 band, with two meetings planned for early 2027. 

  • International: after events on lunar communications and satellite interference limits, a discussion on WRC-27 agenda item 1.7 is likely next year. 

The Forum also welcomed two new steering board members and plans to commission a further study towards the end of the year. Next up is an industry–academia dialogue with the Federated Telecoms Hubs at Imperial College London on 18 November, from 12:00 to 17:00.