FCC Quiet on Future of 4.9 GHz Despite Continuing Pressure for More Mid-Band Spectrum
There was much enthusiasm for looking at the 4.9 GHz band when a Further NPRM was approved on a 5-0 vote 13 months ago (see 1803220037). Now, FCC and industry officials said they've heard almost nothing since the agency took comments last summer. While 4.9 GHz offers prized mid-band spectrum, it’s one segment that rarely gets attention as the FCC looks at 5G. Last year’s notice was the sixth the agency issued.
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The 50 MHz segment has been lightly used since allocated for public safety use in 2002. The FNPRM said nearly 90,000 public safety entities are eligible to obtain licenses in the band, but only 3,174 licenses had been awarded by last year. “With no more than 3.5 percent of potential licensees using the band, we remain concerned that, as the Commission stated in 2012, the band has ‘fallen short of its potential,’” the FNPRM said.
Former Commissioner Robert McDowell voted for a 2012 NPRM on the band, raising similar issues. The band “could be low-hanging fruit for a mid-band auction while carriers say that they need more mid-band in the pipeline," McDowell told us. The FNPRM is “still pending,” an FCC spokesperson said.
Last summer, public safety groups raised concerns. New York City, APCO and others asked the FCC to preserve the 4.9 GHz band for public safety use (see 1807060019). APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen told us the group remains concerned and has heard little since last summer.
The regulator should take another look soon, “because much of the band could be repurposed for commercial broadband services,” said Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Brent Skorup. “Congress set aside additional spectrum for public safety and FirstNet use, the 700 MHz D block. Combined with public safety services offered by the commercial wireless carriers, the public safety use of 4.9 GHz will likely remain modest. Mid-band spectrum in the U.S. is often tied up with legacy public sector uses, but this underused band is promising because commercial service could be lit up pretty quickly in much of the country if it were repurposed by the FCC.”
Tom Struble, technology policy manager at the R Street Institute, has heard very little since the FNPRM was approved. “Perhaps there has been some noise, and it's simply been drowned out by all the din around 5G, but at least I'm not aware of any imminent breakthrough on this item,” he said. “I suspect it's mostly because the commission has simply been more focused on other proceedings, which makes sense. The agency has limited resources and therefore needs to prioritize some efforts over others.”
It's possible the proceeding hit a roadblock and the FCC doesn’t see a clear path forward, Struble said: “As with any band where public safety and commercial operations may have to coexist, the 4.9 GHz band is complicated, both from an engineering and policy perspective. Everyone agrees that 4.9 GHz could be used more productively, but how to go about doing that is still an open question.”