Abstract:

The fast growth and demand for mobile broad band service has driven Telecom network operators to adopt an innovative approached to improve network capacity and enhance Quality of service in Mobile Telephony. The high demand of mobile broadband to pave way for Spectrum refarming which involves reallocating underutilized frequency bands (e.g., 2G/3G) to more advanced networks like 4G LTE. The research focus and objectives was to investigate the impact of spectrum refarming on 4G capacity and QoS improvement and examines the technical, economic, social and regulatory challenges associated with spectrum refarming. The study will follow a quantitave and comparative approach and data collection was conducted through structured questionnaires and distributed to Telecom engineers, IT specialist with hands-on experience in Telecom, regulatory authorities, supporting staff outside IT and Telecom space. The findings indicate that spectrum refarming can significantly enhance the 4G network capacity, improve quality of service and user experience though its implementation is often limited by technical and regulatory challenges and per the results received from the survey, (88.6%) of respondents acknowledged spectrum refarming will significantly improve 4G coverage and capacity, (6.85 %) believed it is not possible and (4.5%) were uncertain. The study also contributes to the field that provide actionable recommendation for telecom operators and policymakers to improve the spectrum management practices. Additionally, (81.8%) of the respondents reported spectrum sharing policy should be introduced to facilitate refarming ,11.4% didn’t support the idea of spectrum sharing ,6.8% of respondents not sure and total Reponses were 40.

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