Buttigieg Backs Biden Administration Look at FCC 5.9 GHz Plans

Lawmakers’ push for the Biden administration to follow through on the 2018 National Timing Resilience and Security Act to implement a backup to GPS timing signals also came up, as expected (see 2103240064). Biden and Buttigieg touted the administration’s looming push for infrastructure spending legislation.

Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., pressed Buttigieg on 5.9 GHz and concerns that the looming reallocation of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G use would interfere with radar altimeters (see 2012080040). “We have to be absolutely certain … we’re not going to lose GPS and radio altimeters” just so carriers can “make money selling a service so people can see things more clearly on their cellphones,” DeFazio said.

“If we’re going to move forward” with cellular vehicle-to-everything and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, “and potentially someday automated vehicles, any interference” in 5.9 GHz is harmful, DeFazio said. The FCC “went ahead” despite concerns from then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, lawmakers and others, and DeFazio hopes this administration “is going to reengage with the FCC on this issue” (see 2103190073).

DOT shares DeFazio’s “concern” about the 5.9 GHz band, Buttigieg said. It remains “a very important priority for transportation communications and public safety.” Buttigieg noted that DOT communicated concerns during the last administration: “We’re going to be engaging with counterparts across the administration on a way forward and trying to establish the best way to handle and share the spectrum that is consistent with not just safety communications as we know them, but where they’re headed.”

The department is “very concerned about the potential for harmful interference” to GPS and altimeters adjacent to the C band, Buttigieg said. “We’ll be working to ensure we’re having the right posture with regard to” interagency conversations and talks with industry stakeholders on the relocation process.

The FCC didn’t comment. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel advocates for using this swath for Wi-Fi.

Buttigieg told Maritime Transportation Subcommittee ranking member Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, that he’s “aware of congressional expectation” that DOT advance work on a GPS backup, and this technology is "important not only in the transportation sector but” also for “emergency response, timing signals, climatology studies. All of this is at stake.” DOT “will want to continue to work with Congress,” DOD and the Department of Homeland Security to move forward in response to a department study on demos of candidate positioning, navigation and timing technologies, Buttigieg said.

Critics Pleased

Senate Commerce Surface Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., told us he appreciates Buttigieg’s commitment to explore alternatives to the FCC’s existing order, which he has been “strongly pushing for.” Peters raised the issue during a Senate Commerce confirmation hearing earlier this month for deputy transportation secretary nominee Polly Trottenberg (see 2103040071).

“We’re now starting to see the realization” of 5.9 GHz’s auto safety systems potential, with the rise of autonomous vehicles that need to be “using that band,” Peters said. “We would hope that there’s a strong carve-out or at least a protection of that bandwidth to make sure that the auto industry can put in those safety features that will save thousands of lives.”

Former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who worked with Rosenworcel at the FCC on opening the band, questioned the need for more review. Commissioners' 5-0 vote “was highly justified and beneficial for both car safety and unlicensed users, and I don’t see why anyone would give any credence to reopening the matter to relitigate stale complaints,” he told us.

ITS America, which advocates preserving the band for safety, welcomed the interagency review. “Protecting the 5.9 GHz band for transportation provides the best opportunity to significantly enhance transportation safety and reduce both the alarming and increasing number of fatalities and greenhouse gas emissions,” emailed President Shailen Bhatt.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation supports “continued dialogue and collaboration” between the FCC and DOT, said President John Bozzella.

Buttigieg should “keep an open mind and take seriously the engineering analysis and work done by the FCC,” Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld told us. “DOT resistance, as well as the resistance from certain members of Congress, has basically been operating on cruise control.” PK Director-Government Affairs Greg Guice also tweeted on the subject.

Infrastructure

Biden said at a Thursday news conference that he intends to announce his $3 trillion-plus infrastructure spending proposal during a Wednesday event in Pittsburgh. It's expected to include substantial broadband funding (see 2101150001). “We have some work” to do to restore U.S. infrastructure, particularly since China is “investing three times more” than the U.S., Biden said. “There is so much we can do," including on “technological infrastructure.”

During the Infrastructure hearing, Buttigieg emphasized the need for spending in excess of $1 trillion. The legislative push is “the best chance in any of our lifetimes to make a generational investment” in infrastructure, he said. Further legislative inaction to fund major projects is “a threat to our collective future.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told reporters that Democrats hope to get Republican colleagues “to work with us” to reach a bipartisan infrastructure deal (see 2103160001). “If we can’t” reach a deal, “we’re going to have to move forward,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., signaled on the Senate floor that he’s concerned “the next few months might bring a so-called 'infrastructure' proposal that may actually be a Trojan horse for massive tax hikes and other job-killing left-wing policies.”

House Infrastructure ranking member Sam Graves of Missouri said he and other Republicans are ready to collaborate on a bipartisan deal, but he doesn’t “think the bill can grow into a multitrillion-dollar catchall.”

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and 15 other members of the Democratic caucus, meanwhile, filed legislation to allocate an additional $6 billion to the FCC emergency broadband benefit program. Then-President Donald Trump signed off in December on the $3.2 billion program in the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid package (see 2012210055). “Democrats made a massive down-payment on broadband in the last relief package,” Wyden said in a statement. “This bill will make sure that the families who need broadband the most don’t lose access just as our country can see the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”