Draft NOI Indicates FCC Views 12.7 GHz as Potential Candidate Band for 5G
A draft notice of inquiry on 12.7-13.25 GHz portrays the band as potentially providing part of the answer to the wireless industry’s quest for more mid-band to refill the spectrum pipeline. The NOI was among four items Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated Thursday for a vote at the Oct. 27 commissioners' meeting (see 2210050065). Also circulated: a Further NPRM that would give two more years of life to the FCC’s support for wireless carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands rebuilding after the 2017 hurricanes, an NPRM on emergency alerting, and a Stir/Shaken NOI.
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Some use the term "the 13 GHz band" to differentiate the band from 12 GHz, but the NOI throughout refers to it as 12.7 GHz. “Mid-band spectrum in the 12.7 GHz frequency range combines favorable propagation characteristics and considerable capacity and opportunity for channel reuse, as well as superior building penetration and reduced clutter loss as compared to high-band spectrum,” the draft notes: “As noted by commenters in other proceedings, the 12.7 GHz band is ideal for the Commission to consider for mobile broadband use as it is already allocated for terrestrial mobile services on a primary basis domestically.”
The NOI asks “whether any incumbent services” in the band “should be sunset, remain in their current form, or [be] relocated, and whether to adopt cost-sharing procedures to apportion any relocation costs among the new entrants.” The 13 GHz draft seeks comment on what licensing approach would facilitate use for 5G or other expanded use of the band and the “level of protection that any new 12.7 GHz band operators would have to provide to incumbent services in the lower and upper adjacent bands.” It also examines the costs versus benefits of various approaches.
The band has only limited federal government use, the draft says. It’s otherwise allocated on a primary basis to fixed service, fixed satellite service and mobile service users, the draft says. Among the most prevalent uses, broadcasters use the band for fixed length transmissions from studio to transmitter, and for relays and electronic newsgathering (see 2209200071).
Fixed links in the band “support a variety of critical services, such as public safety (including backhaul for police and fire vehicle dispatch), control of natural gas and oil pipelines, regulation of electric grids, and backhaul for commercial wireless providers (including traffic between cellular base stations and wireline networks),” the draft says: Among other uses, the band is home to 403 broadcast auxiliary service stations, mostly in large cities, and some 50 cable antenna relay service call signs.
Emergency Alerts
An NPRM on wireless emergency alerts and the emergency alert system seeks comments “on ways to strengthen the operational readiness of EAS equipment.” It proposes requiring EAS participants to report to the agency incidents of unauthorized access to its EAS equipment “within 72 hours of when it knew or should have known that the incident occurred.” Carriers and other participants would also have to certify to the FCC that they have “a cybersecurity risk management plan in place and to employing sufficient security measures to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their respective alerting systems.” The EAS draft would also require carriers to “transmit sufficient authentication information to ensure that only valid alerts are displayed on consumer devices.”
“In the last decade, the Commission has become aware of several incidents that raise concerns about the security of the EAS,” the draft says: “Most recently” in August “FEMA issued an advisory on a potential vulnerability in certain EAS encoder/decoder devices that have not been updated to most recent software versions. FEMA observed that if EAS devices are not up-to-date, an unauthorized actor could issue false EAS alerts over the EAS Participant’s infrastructure.”
The draft suggests rules may be needed to make alerting more secure. Despite a decade of warnings “we have not observed meaningful security improvements,” the draft says. The FCC Public Safety Bureau has frequently advised EAS participants to update their EAS software to ensure they've installed the most recent security patches, it notes: But in filings on 2021’s nationwide EAS test the bureau found “more than 5,000 EAS Participants were using outdated software or using equipment that no longer supported regular software updates. In light of these failures, we believe the Commission should take action to ensure the security of EAS.”
Another NOI would seek comment on how to address caller authentication technology for non-IP networks and what the FCC can do to encourage providers to transition to IP. It would also seek comment on two non-IP caller ID authentication standards developed by ATIS, says a fact sheet. The FCC sought comment in May on caller authentication for non-IP networks as part of a larger rulemaking and order targeting gateway providers (see 2205190023). "The record reflected interest in this subject from a broad array of stakeholders with divergent views on the best path forward," the authentication draft says.
The draft would seek comment on industry's progress on "developing a caller ID authentication framework for non-IP networks" and whether there are any alternative solutions to addressing the issue beyond existing standards. It would also seek comment on how any requirement to adopt ATIS' standards should be structured. The FCC would also seek comment on whether it should encourage an industry-wide transition to IP networks "in lieu of pursuing a non-IP authentication solution." Comments would be due Dec. 12, replies Jan. 11, in docket 17-97.
Noting the damage caused in the Caribbean by last month’s Hurricane Fiona, the FCC in the draft FNPRM said it needs to ensure carriers maintain and strengthen existing facilities while constructing and improving their Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands networks. The current mobile support for carriers sunsets in June 2023. Due to the heightened risk from hurricanes, the agency said in the draft, “any lapse in funding, no matter how brief, may leave progress already made in increasing the robustness of existing 4G telecom services and expanding 5G at risk.”
The item asks such questions as whether it's still in the public interest to allow support to be used for more resiliency and redundancy measures to safeguard and preserve service during periods of future natural disasters. It proposes that incumbent LECs use their high-cost universal service support strictly for resiliency and redundancy measures as that support gets phased out. It proposes incumbent LECs getting that support turn in spending proposals for use of the phase-down support for redundancy and resiliency measures, with those proposals needing agency approval.