FCC Opposes Amateur Radio Pursuit of 5.9 GHz Stay
The FCC opposed the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network’s request for a stay (in Pacer), sought last week, of the FCC’s order reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), in a pleading posted Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals…
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for the D.C. Circuit. AREDN told the court Wi-Fi in the band would effectively preclude use for high-speed broadband networks by amateur operators. AREDN said 5.9 is the “workhorse” band for its operations. “The Order fulfills a pressing public need for increased Wi-Fi internet capacity by making an additional 45 megahertz of electromagnetic spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band available for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses in indoor environments,” the FCC said (in Pacer) in docket 21-1141. “AREDN contends that unlicensed use in this band will cause harmful interference to amateur-radio users, but it failed to present any supporting evidence in the proceedings leading up to the Order,” the FCC said. ITS America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials supported the stay. “AREDN is correct that the FCC exceeded its authority in issuing the Order,” they said (in Pacer), arguing the FCC action is barred by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which requires spectrum for intelligent transportation. The FCC “improperly disregarded the TEA and exceeded the agency’s spectrum allocation and licensing authority, and was otherwise arbitrary and capricious,” they said. The 5G Automotive Association said it supports a stay but opposes AREDN’s logic. The FCC, not the Department of Transportation, has authority “over the nation’s public airwaves,” 5GAA said (in Pacer): “A stay premised on DOT’s purported authority to dictate the terms of use of national spectrum resources would be contrary to law -- and could wreak havoc on a well-settled regulatory framework that has remained in place for more than a century.”