Alaska Carrier Gets FCC Blessing to Use 3 Bands for Wireless Backhaul
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved waivers, on a limited basis, allowing General Communication Inc. to use the 6425-6525, 6525-6875 and 6875-7125 MHz bands to substantially increase the capacity of the company’s rural broadband system. “GCI has demonstrated that it would…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
be unduly burdensome to lay fiber underground in extremely rural areas of Alaska or to use other spectrum, such as the 11 GHz band, to increase its capacity; and that for the provision of wireless backhaul in the Upper 6 GHz band, GCI has no reasonable alternative to using the 6 GHz band with the requested channelization and other modifications,” the bureau said in a Friday order in docket 16-209. The waiver applies only to an already listed group of sites. “If GCI expands its network in the future, GCI should attach a similarly detailed waiver request to each site-based application,” the order said. “Assuming these sites are similarly situated to those for which GCI has been granted waivers, we anticipate a similar waiver would likely be appropriate.”