FCC Vote Expected in September on 3.45-3.55 GHz NPRM, October on 5.9 GHz

Pai is likely to pursue an active agenda on spectrum through the year-end of the year, with the 3.45-3.55 GHz item first, wireless industry lawyers said. They noted the agenda provides more spectrum for both licensed and unlicensed, while further loosening the rules in the 6 GHz band. The FCC “seems to want to adopt the 5.9 order ahead of 6 GHz,” said an advocate of both: “I don’t know why, except that perhaps it’s further along and less technically fraught.” The FCC didn’t comment.

Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules for 5.9, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi, with 20 MHz reserved for cellular vehicle to everything and possibly 10 MHz for dedicated short-range communications (see 1912180019). Commissioners unanimously approved a Further NPRM on 6 GHz rules in April (see 2004230059). DOD recently agreed to share the 3.45-3.55 GHz band with licensed users, with an auction in December 2021 (see 2008100022).

Combined with adjacent spectrum, the 5.9 band offers “the first and only unimpeded 160 MHz channel for gigabyte-fast next-gen Wi-Fi,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, during a WifiForward webinar Thursday. “Since this will be exclusively unlicensed, it can be used at full Wi-Fi power.” Unlike 6 GHz, the band will also be available “in every location and without the delay, cost or complexity of being controlled by a database, by automated frequency control,” he said.

The 5.9 GHz band is critical to Wi-Fi 6, which is “as big of leap forward as mobile carrier 5G will be compared to 4G,” Calabrese said: “It can be much more generally available and much sooner.” Wi-Fi 6 will mean “5G quality, absent services for all,” he said.

Pai “wants to do as much as possible to cement” his “5G legacy,” said Shane Tews of the American Enterprise Institute, who expects Pai to also take on a few other issues, similar to recent inmate calling and the suicide hotline items: “I don’t think you’ll see him do anything controversial walking out the door. Getting the spectrum stuff nailed down before he departs is really a priority.”

"FCC recognizes that with so many Americans relying on Wi-Fi for bandwidth intensive telework, tele-school, telemedicine and other accommodations, the need for regulatory action to meet connectivity demands and to unlock a multitude of new use cases is as urgent as ever,” said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance senior director-regulatory affairs. “With the fully developed records in both 5.9 GHz and 6 GHz proceedings, there is no reason to delay Wi-Fi ecosystem delivering these much-needed socioeconomic benefits.”

“The Pai FCC has made new wireless services and rural coverage perhaps its primary focus,” said Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Brent Skorup. “Layered on top of that focus is that COVID-19 accelerated several societal trends like work from home, telemedicine and remote education that create new demands for wireless services and new urgency from the agency to free up spectrum,” he said: “It’s great to see this progress on spectrum items with bipartisan support, which I hope sets the tone for the next four years and beyond.”

Pai is right to push on spectrum items before the election, said Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner. “It is inevitable, regardless of the outcome, that things will get delayed after the election,” he said. “We will have a replacement for Commissioner [Mike] O'Rielly. We might have a different chairman. The priorities of the administration might change. Right now the commission is unified.”

Pai isn’t “the type to leave a lot of unfinished business on the table,” said Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. The departure of former Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp “was inevitably going to add a bit of a slowdown on unlicensed, but with OET firing on all cylinders it makes sense to move through what is already fairly well cooked,” he said: “5.9 GHz does indeed seem to have the finish line in sight. I don’t see this administration pressuring agencies to keep the pens down for the next few months, not that spectrum issues could even register as a distraction in this election.”

Lobbying continues on 5.9 GHz. In a recent meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, 5G Automotive Association representatives discussed the “growing momentum” for C-V2X technology. “5GAA has proposed two distinct paths for modernizing the Commission’s rules to accommodate C-V2X Direct and thereby deliver the safety benefits of this technology to American consumers and travelers,” the group said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138: “Under the greatly preferred first option, the Commission would adopt its proposal to allocate the upper portion of the 5.9 GHz band for 4G-based basic C-V2X Direct services and also reallocate the lower portion of the 5.9 GHz band for 5G-based advanced C-V2X Direct services.”

Auto groups remain concerned about the 5.9 GHz band. “Our position remains that the commission has not resolved outstanding issues about the safety spectrum’s future with the Department of Transportation and has not answered essential questions about harmful interference to critical auto safety communications under the proposed rule,” emailed a spokesperson for the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.