3.5 GHz Rulemaking Teed Up for Vote at April FCC Meeting
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to circulate proposed rules on the future of the 3.5 GHz band for a vote at the commission’s April 23 meeting, said agency and industry officials Tuesday. The FCC had a busy agenda at Monday’s meeting (CD April 1 p1; p4; p8; p11) and is expected to hold a big meeting in May, with votes on rules for the TV incentive auction as well as spectrum aggregation rules, the officials said. The FCC is looking at use of the 3.5 GHz band by small cells and as a large-scale test site for spectrum sharing. The agency began an initial rulemaking in December 2012 (CD Dec 13/12 p6).
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The 3.5 GHz band is set aside for high-powered military radar and fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations and satellites. The FCC original 2012 NPRM proposed that the band be reallocated under a three-tiered “Citizens Broadband Service” under Part 95 of the commission’s rules (http://fcc.us/JnSv1c).
The further NPRM is expected to defer a decision on some issues on coexistence with federal licensees because those issues are still undergoing interagency review, said an industry official who advocates shared use of the 3.5 GHz band. Particular concerns involved protecting naval radar.
Wheeler indicated in a recent speech (CD March 25 p1) that proposed rules on the 3.5 GHz band were on the way (http://bit.ly/ObPpQc). But he warned the next step is “subject to ongoing discussion with other government parties.”
In a filing last week at the FCC, a broad coalition of advocates for unlicensed spectrum warned that as the FCC finalizes rules for the 3.5 GHz spectrum, it should minimize the size of protection zones where use of the band is prohibited. “It is critical that geographic exclusion zones, to the extent they are needed in certain areas, should be based on actual deployment scenarios and protect incumbent users rather than new entrants,” the coalition said (http://bit.ly/1iaQGk1). “The Commission should minimize protection zones for incumbents insofar as possible, by adopting requirements that are based only on the interference tolerance of incumbent operations and not the tolerance of potential new operations.” Among those signing the filing were the Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, Google, Microsoft, New America Foundation and Public Knowledge.
"The FCC’s proposed Citizens Broadband Service at 3.5 GHz is an important breakthrough both because small-cell spectrum can add enormous capacity to meet mobile data demand, but also because it lays a foundation for private sector sharing of other underutilized federal bands,” Michael Calabrese of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute told us Tuesday.