A number of vendors are working on a shared spectrum trial, exploring a technology which could “release enough spectrum to enable innovative 5G services for all EU citizens”.

But no operators have so far been named as participants.

The work uses frequencies owned by the French Ministry of Defence in the 2.3GHz-2.4GHz band. If successful, this “should lead to the release of large amounts of licensed spectrum in France over the next 24 months”.

Participating in the work are French start-up Red Technologies, which is providing a dynamic spectrum management platform; Ericsson, which is providing radio networks with carrier aggregation capabilities; and Qualcomm, which is supplying devices.

“Spectrum availability is a core condition for flourishing technology adoption and innovation. This Licensed Shared Access (LSA) pilot is therefore a vital step towards the realisation of Europe’s Digital Single Market,” said Wassim Chourbaji, VP of government affairs at Qualcomm Communications.

Many governments worldwide are looking at spectrum allocations held by public bodies such as the military, against a backdrop of growing demand from the mobile industry.

While in some cases this is leading to parts of allocations being handed back, sharing provides an alternative way to ensure the resource is used efficiently.

And important consideration is that many public applications either do not use all of an allocation, are focused regionally, or do not have consistent usage levels – meaning there is an opportunity to support other uses.