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Calcimator

Spectrum Refarming Calculator

Capacity gain from spectrum reallocation.

About this calculator

Spectrum refarming is the practice of shutting down an older radio technology on a frequency band and repointing that same bandwidth at a newer one, and the payoff comes almost entirely from spectral efficiency — how many bits per second each Hz of spectrum can carry. This calculator assigns a fixed bps/Hz figure per generation (0.2 for 2G GSM, 0.9 for 3G HSPA+, 2.5 for 4G LTE, 4.5 for 5G NR), multiplies by the bandwidth being refarmed to get per-sector capacity, and additionally multiplies the target technology's capacity by MIMO spatial-stream count when the target is LTE or newer (legacy 2G/3G get no MIMO credit here). Multiplying per-sector capacity by sector count gives total network capacity before and after, and the ratio between them is the headline capacity gain multiplier — refarming from 2G straight to 5G, for instance, can show a 20x-plus multiplier purely from the efficiency and MIMO stacking.

Migration cost is built from two very different cost drivers: new radio equipment per sector (scaling with target technology complexity, from $8,000 for 3G up to $25,000 for 5G gear) and subscriber device migration, where the percentage of subscribers needing a new device is assumed to shrink as the source technology gets newer (90% for a 2G sunset, down to 20% moving off 4G) at a flat $50 average subsidy per device. Payback period comes from a simple, deliberately rough assumption that each added Mbps of network capacity is worth about $2 of monthly revenue — a rule of thumb for early business-case screening, not a substitute for a real ARPU and demand-elasticity model before committing capital to a refarm.

Inputs

Results

Capacity gain multiplier

25

Current capacity (Gbps)1
New capacity (Gbps)25
Capacity gain (Gbps)24
Current per-sub (kbps)10
New per-sub (kbps)250
Total migration cost ($)$12,000,000.00
Equipment cost ($)$7,500,000.00
Device migration cost ($)$4,500,000.00
Est. payback (months)250
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter the existing frequency band being refarmed and the new technology to be deployed.
  2. Input the number of base stations affected and the cost per site for hardware upgrade.
  3. Set the timeline for refarm completion in months.
  4. Review the Total Refarm Cost, Cost Per Site, and Spectrum Efficiency Gain.
  5. Use the Capacity Increase output to quantify the subscriber throughput improvement post-refarm.

What each input means

Bandwidth to refarm (MHz)
Amount of spectrum bandwidth being refarmed in MHz.
Source Technology
Select current technology being refarmed
Target Technology
Select target technology after refarming
Number of sectors
Total cell sectors across the network using this band.
MIMO layers (target)
Number of MIMO spatial streams for the target technology. LTE: 2-4, 5G: 2-8.
Subscriber count
Total subscribers on the network using this spectrum band.

What each result means

Capacity gain multiplier
How many times more capacity the target technology provides vs. source.
Current capacity (Gbps)
Total network downlink capacity with current technology.
New capacity (Gbps)
Total network downlink capacity after refarming.
Capacity gain (Gbps)
Additional network capacity from refarming.
Current per-sub (kbps)
Average per-subscriber throughput before refarming.
New per-sub (kbps)
Average per-subscriber throughput after refarming.
Total migration cost ($)
Equipment upgrade + subscriber device migration costs.
Equipment cost ($)
Radio equipment upgrade cost for all sectors.
Device migration cost ($)
Subscriber device subsidy for technology upgrade.
Est. payback (months)
Estimated months to recoup migration cost from capacity revenue.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Bandwidth to refarm (MHz) = 10, Source Technology = 0, Target Technology = 2, Number of sectors = 500 = 6 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Capacity gain multiplier
    Capacity gain multiplier = sourceNetworkCapacityMbps > 0 ? targetNetworkCapacityMbps / sourceNetworkCapa...
    25 = 25
  3. Calculate Current capacity
    Current capacity = sourceCapacityPerSector * sectorCount
    1 = 1
  4. Calculate New capacity
    New capacity = targetCapacityPerSector * sectorCount
    25 = 25

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does refarming from 2G to 5G show such a large capacity gain multiplier compared to 3G to 4G?

The gain comes from two multiplied factors: spectral efficiency (0.2 bps/Hz for 2G vs. 4.5 for 5G — a 22.5x jump) and MIMO layer count, which only applies to target technologies of LTE or newer. A 2G-to-5G refarm captures both the full spectral-efficiency jump and the MIMO multiplier, while a 3G-to-4G refarm (0.9 to 2.5 bps/Hz) captures a smaller efficiency gain, which is why the calculator's capacityGainMultiplier can vary so widely by source/target combination.

Why doesn't the legacy source technology get any MIMO credit in the capacity calculation?

The engine multiplies target-side capacity by MIMO layer count only when targetTech is 2 or higher (LTE or 5G) via `Math.min(mimoLayers, targetTech >= 2 ? mimoLayers : 1)`, while sourceCapacityPerSector always uses a multiplier of 1. This reflects that 2G and 3G radio standards weren't designed around multi-antenna spatial multiplexing the way 4G and 5G are, so crediting the legacy side with MIMO gains would overstate its real-world throughput.

How does the device migration cost assumption change depending on what technology I'm sunsetting?

deviceMigrationPct is set to 90% if you're sunsetting 2G, 50% for 3G, and 20% for 4G, on the assumption that subscribers on older technology are more likely to be using devices that can't fall back to the new band at all and need replacing. That percentage is then multiplied by subscriber count and a flat $50 average subsidy per device to produce deviceMigrationCost, which is added to equipment cost for the total migration cost.

Is the payback period estimate based on real revenue data?

No — it uses a deliberately simple placeholder: each additional Mbps of network capacity gained from refarming is assumed worth about $2 per month in revenue, annualized and divided into total migration cost to get paybackMonths. The explainer is explicit that this is a rule of thumb for early business-case screening, not a substitute for a real ARPU and demand-elasticity analysis before committing capital.

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