Wheeler Seeks Vote at May FCC Meeting on 3.5 GHz Band, Launch of Part 96 Rules
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, as expected, was set to circulate late Wednesday a further rulemaking notice on the future of the 3.5 GHz band. The rulemaking offers a much more detailed plan for the band, a testbed of sorts for spectrum sharing and small cells, and would create a new Part 96 to the FCC’s rules, a senior FCC official said Wednesday. The next step is launch of initial rules for the 3.5 GHz band.
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The proposal covers 3550-3650 MHz, with a supplemental proposal for 3650-3700 MHz, and reflects proposals in a July 2012 sharing report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) (CD July 23/12 p1), the official said. The draft proposes three tiers of users, with decreasing levels of protection from harmful interference: incumbents, mostly federal agencies and a few satellite operators; a priority access tier, an open eligibility tier assigned through FCC license and based on a new type of auction if multiple players seek the same spectrum; and a third general authorized access tier, licensed by rule but similar to unlicensed spectrum.
The FCC would require all devices that use the band to protect the tiers above them and base their use of the spectrum on a database, an enhanced version of the database already used in the TV white spaces, the official said. The official acknowledged that exclusion zones remain under consideration, with interagency discussions continuing and new data being collected (CD April 2 p1). The FCC is coordinating with other federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, on the NPRM, officials said.
The agency launched its initial rulemaking in December 2012 (CD Dec 13/12 p6). In December, the FCC sought additional comment, asking about alternative licensing proposals for the band (http://bit.ly/1mzsf2t). In January, the FCC held a workshop on a Spectrum Access System (SAS) for the 3.5 GHz band, which was opened by Wheeler (CD March 25 p1).
"I am very glad the FCC is moving on this immediately after the 5 GHz item, and that the direction of the FNPRM is firmly on the PCAST path,” said Harold Feld, Public Knowledge senior vice president. “Hopefully, the FCC will be able to wind this up before the end of the year. For too long, the FCC has talked about sharing and its commitment to the approach embraced by the administration without doing anything concrete.”
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) made public some of the comments filed in response to a Science and Technology Policy Institute report identifying approaches to providing incentives to federal agencies to share or relinquish spectrum (http://bit.ly/1oG93Br). While several federal agencies filed comments, they were not released, industry sources said.
Most of the comments were already made available by their authors (CD March 24 p8). OSTP released the comments as a single file (http://1.usa.gov/1iijoj1).
"Whether allocated for public or private use, the current process for reallocating spectrum to accommodate the explosive demand for mobile broadband services is too slow and cumbersome,” the Discovery Institute said. “The goal of multiplying the effective capacity of spectrum by a factor of 1,000 through spectrum sharing should be pursued.” But, the institute said, “bureaucratic self-interest” could stand in the way. “It’s a rather breathtaking indictment of government to suggest that it won’t act except in its own self-interest,” the institute said.
The Edison Electric Institute said the government should not forget electric utilities and other critical infrastructure (CII) entities as it looks more closely at sharing. “Facilitating sharing arrangements among Federal agencies and CII entities for mission critical communications will in some cases represent the highest and best use of this spectrum, and will support a variety of Federal goals and policies,” EEI said.
"An array of stakeholders submitted comments, which will inform a forthcoming report the White House Spectrum Policy Team will deliver to the President,” Tom Power, deputy federal chief technology officer, said in a blog post (http://1.usa.gov/1h3D1yJ). “Advances in the innovative uses of spectrum continue to benefit consumers, businesses, and government users while driving productivity and supporting job growth. We look forward to continuing to implement the President’s ambitious agenda to add more spectrum to fuel to [sic] the Nation’s fast-growing wireless broadband economy. As part of this effort, we will continue to promote collaboration among agencies, the private sector, academia, and other stakeholders.”