5.9 GHz — who has allocated what.
The ITS band is the same neighbourhood everywhere and almost never the same block. The differences — 20 MHz in China, 30 in the US, 50 proposed in India, 60 in Europe — determine whether a jurisdiction can run LTE-V2X and NR-V2X simultaneously, and therefore how long its Day-1 deployment stays viable.
Same neighbourhood everywhere, almost never the same block.
| Jurisdiction | Band | Width | Technology | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 5895–5925 MHz | 30 MHz | C-V2X only | Three 10 MHz channels, combinable to 20 or 30. Lower 45 MHz (5850–5895) reallocated to unlicensed U-NII-4 in 2020. |
| Canada | 5895–5925 MHz | 30 MHz | C-V2X, 3GPP Rel-14 | Licence-exempt for on-board units. RSS-252 Issue 3 (12 Dec 2025) sets the certification requirement; roadside units are outside its scope. |
| European Union | Road ITS: 5875–5925 MHz Band: 5875–5935 MHz | 50 MHz to road ITS 60 MHz total | Technology neutral | Per Decision (EU) 2020/1426 as amended by 2026/1800. Road ITS is limited to I2V only in 5915–5925; 5925–5935 is urban rail ITS only. 20 MHz channels permitted since July 2026, with one condition — see below. |
| United Kingdom | 5875–5925 MHz | 50 MHz | Technology neutral | Licence-exempt under SI 2023/243 conditional on Ofcom IR 2086 v2.0: 23 dBm/MHz, 33 dBm total with TPC range ≥30 dB, EN 302 571 mitigation. No channel plan specified. |
| Germany | 5875–5915 MHz | 40 MHz | Technology neutral | General assignment Vfg. 48/2021 as amended Nov 2025. 23 dBm/MHz, 33 dBm, TPC ≥30 dB, 10 MHz blocks with no pairing. 5915–5935 needs an individual assignment; the assignment expires 31 Dec 2026. |
| China | 5905–5925 MHz | 20 MHz | LTE-V2X only | MIIT, 21 October 2018. Single channel. The narrowest major allocation. |
| South Korea | 5855–5875 MHz | 20 MHz allocated | LTE-V2X Direct | Plus 5875–5925 MHz (50 MHz) reserved for ITS expansion. |
| Japan | 5895–5925 MHz planned | 30 MHz planned | C-V2X | MIC Frequency Reorganization Action Plan (FY2024 version, 13 Dec 2024); assignment targeted for completion by FY2026. Planned, not yet allocated. The deployed 700 MHz ITS system (ARIB STD-T109) and 5.8 GHz ETC 2.0 are separate and continue. |
| India | 5875–5925 MHz proposed | 50 MHz proposed | C-V2X | 30 MHz (5875–5905) for initial deployment, 20 MHz (5905–5925) reserved for future ITS. 5875–5905 MHz already licence-exempt for OBUs under G.S.R. 466(E), notified 10 June 2026 and published 11 June 2026. |
| Australia | Above 5855 and up to 5925 MHz | — | Not named in the instrument | Class licence, no application and no fee. 23 dBm/MHz maximum EIRP, compliance with ETSI EN 302 571, and a 70 km exclusion around the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory. |
| Singapore | 5855–5925 MHz | 70 MHz | DSRC | Per IMDA TS DSRC Issue 1 Rev 1 (2017), seven 10 MHz channels. No C-V2X instrument located; none inferred. |
The 2026 amendment, and the one limitation attached to it.
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1800 of 24 July 2026, published in the Official Journal on 28 July 2026, notified as C(2026) 5125.
Article 1 replaces the Annex to Decision (EU) 2020/1426 in full. The substantive change is that the European road ITS band now supports 20 MHz channels, formed by combining two adjacent 10 MHz blocks, alongside the 10 MHz channels that were already harmonised. Recital 3 gives the rationale: wider channels allow basic and advanced use cases with simpler implementation and higher spectrum efficiency, while keeping the approach technology-neutral.
The limitation is specific and it is easy to overstate in either direction. The new Annex’s frequency-arrangement row states that two blocks may be combined in one contiguous 20 MHz channel, and then that “Use of the 20 MHz channel formed by two blocks of 10 MHz within the frequency band 5 905-5 925 MHz shall be limited to infrastructure-to-vehicle communications, noting that restrictions apply to the frequency band 5 915-5 925 MHz in accordance with Article 3(3).”
Read precisely, that means:
- It is not a ban on 20 MHz channels. Combining two blocks is permitted across 5875–5925 MHz.
- It is not a restriction on 10 MHz channels. The sentence is scoped to the 20 MHz channel formed by two blocks.
- One specific 20 MHz channel — 5905–5925 MHz — is limited to infrastructure-to-vehicle communications. A design assuming vehicle-to-vehicle transmission on a 20 MHz carrier there is planning against a channel the Decision does not permit it on.
- The reason is rail, and it is not new. Article 3(3) of the 2020 Decision has limited road ITS access to 5915–5925 MHz to I2V since 2020, to protect urban rail ITS. A 20 MHz channel at 5905–5925 overlaps that range, so it inherits the restriction. Recital 6 records that the limitation stands pending the availability of solutions ensuring protection of urban rail ITS in 5915–5925 MHz, following CEPT Report 91, adopted on 7 November 2025.
Two further changes in the replaced Annex are worth noting because they affect conformity work. Road ITS in 5875–5925 MHz now carries an explicit unwanted-emissions limit above 5925 MHz of −30 dBm/MHz EIRP. And transmit power control is now expressed as a requirement that TPC “shall be able to reduce the total power from its maximum to 3 dBm EIRP”, where the 2020 Annex specified a TPC range of at least 30 dB. Maximum spectral power density (23 dBm/MHz) and maximum total transmit power (33 dBm mean EIRP) are unchanged.
The Decision sets no separate Member State application deadline, and a Union designation is not a national permission: Germany’s general assignment covers 5875–5915 MHz in 10 MHz blocks with no pairing provision, and expires at the end of 2026. The EU regulatory picture in full → · The document record →
Channel plan and power, in detail.
Final rules from the FCC's Second Report and Order, FCC 24-123, effective 11 February 2025.
- Three 10 MHz channels: 5895–5905, 5905–5915, 5915–5925 MHz, combinable to 20 or 30 MHz without restriction.
- Industry practice has settled on 5905–5925 MHz (20 MHz) as the primary LTE-V2X safety channel, holding 5895–5905 MHz for later use once standards mature — it is also the channel most exposed to out-of-band emissions from the adjacent unlicensed U-NII-4 band.
- RSU power: 33 dBm EIRP power spectral density per 10, 20 or 30 MHz, measured RMS. Antenna height capped at 15 m, with power reduction required above 8 m.
- OBU power: up to 33 dBm EIRP outside federal coordination zones, with geofencing required. Inside coordination zones, 23 dBm on 5895–5905 MHz and 27 dBm within ±5° horizontal on the other channels. Non-geofenced OBUs are held to coordination-zone limits everywhere.
- Out-of-band emissions: −16 dBm/100 kHz within ±1 MHz of the band edge; −13 dBm/MHz from ±1 to ±5 MHz; −16 dBm/MHz from ±5 to ±30 MHz; −28 dBm/MHz beyond.
- Licensing: non-exclusive, non-auctioned. RSUs licensed to local government entities and Industrial/Business Pool licensees; OBUs licensed by rule. Registered RSUs must be constructed and operational within 12 months or the registration terminates.
- The FCC explicitly declined to mandate a specific 3GPP release.
Two instruments, at two different levels, and they are frequently conflated.
The designation — TRAI Consultation Paper No. 08/2026 proposes 5875–5925 MHz, following the MoRTH ITS Task Force Part-1 report which recommended the full range at a maximum 4 W EIRP (36 dBm) for both OBUs and RSUs.
The licence exemption — G.S.R. 466(E), 10 June 2026, notifying the Use of On Board Unit for Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything Communication in the 5.9 GHz Band (Exemption from Licensing Requirements) Rules, 2026, under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933. It covers 5875–5905 MHz only, OBUs only, at maximum power spectral density 23 dBm/MHz, maximum in-band EIRP 33 dBm, out-of-band emissions −30 dBm/MHz, on a non-interference, non-protection, non-exclusive basis.
Two things follow. RSUs are not covered — consistent with the position that RSU deployment requires authorisation. And equipment type approval through the DoT portal remains mandatory — the exemption removes spectrum licensing, not equipment approval. The upper 5905–5925 MHz sits inside the NFAP-2025 earmark and DoT's stated reserve for future ITS applications, and is not opened to on-board units by any instrument; MoRTH's 3 August 2026 release, which quotes 5.875–5.925 GHz for Draft AIS-230 and describes the whole band as exempted, overstates the Gazette. The band diagram, instrument by instrument → · India's V2X framework in full →
Where this fits.
Antennas and RF
An allocation is only useful if something radiates into it. Placement, polarisation and the losses between the module and the air.
C-V2X
Why 30 MHz is tight once LTE-V2X and NR-V2X must coexist on separate carriers.
Designing against a band
An allocation becomes an engineering input once a unit has to be built for it — band plan, emissions envelope and the conformity route for the target market.
US regulation
The proceedings behind the 30 MHz allocation, and the DSRC sunset.
India regulation
The designation, the exemption, and the draft mandate on top of both.
DSRC vs C-V2X
The technology decision each of these allocations encodes.
EU regulation
The 60 MHz band, and the urban rail sharing arrangement at the top of it.
Asia-Pacific
Japan's planned assignment, Korea's allocation, and Australia's class licence.
Standards library
Every instrument in this table as a document record, with edition, status, binding effect and what was verified.
Questions this page answers.
What frequency does V2X use?
The 5.9 GHz band, broadly 5.85 to 5.95 GHz depending on jurisdiction. The exact allocation varies: 30 MHz in the US, 60 MHz in the EU, 20 MHz in China, 50 MHz proposed in India.
Do I need a licence to operate a V2X on-board unit in India?
No spectrum licence, as of G.S.R. 466(E) of 10 June 2026, provided the unit operates in 5875–5905 MHz within the specified power limits on a non-interference, non-protection basis. You do still need equipment type approval through the DoT portal.
Do I need a licence to operate a roadside unit in India?
Yes, and the eligibility question is not yet settled. The TRAI consultation, following MoRTH's position, indicates RSU authorisation restricted to central and state governments and their authorised agencies, with private entities considered only for non-safety applications. TRAI's recommendations were still pending as of mid-August 2026.
Why is the US allocation only 30 MHz?
The FCC's November 2020 First Report and Order reallocated the lower 45 MHz of the original 75 MHz ITS band (5850–5895 MHz) to unlicensed Wi-Fi, retaining only the upper 30 MHz for ITS. ITS America has since campaigned for additional spectrum; 78% of its 2024 survey respondents supported it.
Last updated 2026-09-29 · Technical reference maintained by Ambimat Electronics, Ahmedabad, India. Corrections: v2x@ambimat.com