Leaders of 5G for 12 GHz Coalition See FCC Proposal as Progress
Officials with 5G for 12 GHz Coalition didn’t get everything they wanted from the FCC in the item teed up for a vote at the May 18 open meeting. But they're pleased with what was proposed and see it as the next step on the way to use of the band for fixed wireless, and potentially to be used as part of broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program applications.
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Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a complicated item last week, including an order, a Further NPRM on the upper band and NPRM on the lower band (see 2304270077). The NPRM seeks comment on fixed wireless, unlicensed and other use of 12.2-12.7 GHz. Some industry officials believe opening the door to fixed use of the lower band will eventually lead to mobile use.
“Our coalition is very pleased” the item is “a first step and positive progress in bringing greater use of the lower 12, and combined with the upper 12, that’s a huge opportunity for the U.S. broadband industry, both wireless and wired, to expand networks,” Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told us. The FNPRM gives the coalition “an opportunity to show that we can meet the moment using this spectrum to close the digital divide,” he said: “We feel like we have a great opportunity with the proceeding in front of us.”
The first BEAD allocations will be made in June, but Pickering said it will take “some time” before all the money is awarded. Headed into next year, companies are looking to deploy fiber under BEAD and use fixed wireless “wherever and the economics and the technology make sense,” he said. “We will still be in a timely position” to use the band for BEAD projects if an FCC decision comes this year on both the lower and upper parts of the band, he said. The 1,000 MHz of spectrum combined is “the biggest infusion of mid-band spectrum that we could ever achieve,” he said: “This is progress. It is positive direction.”
RS Access is “pleased the FCC is investigating two-way consumer service for 500 MHz of critical, upper mid-band spectrum, adjacent to what’s obviously going to be a huge ecosystem in 12.7-13.25” GHz, CEO Noah Campbell told us. A thousand MHz of mid-band “makes a huge difference for the hundreds of millions of mobile and fixed broadband subscribers in the United States,” Campbell said: “It’s a potentially huge win.”
Campbell said it was “really creative and very intelligent” for the FCC to look at both bands together. “It’s phenomenal policywise” and “phenomenal for consumers,” he said.
In a “win” for SpaceX and Starlink and a “loss” for Dish Network, “the FCC will not enable mobile uses,” New Street’s Blair Levin told investors this week: “However, in a win for DISH, it will open the door for using the band for fixed, unlicensed and other potential uses.”
“All the things under consideration are things” public interest groups “asked the FCC to consider if they did not think mobile was possible,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. He was particularly pleased the FCC is asking about unlicensed use and other sharing models, including citizens broadband radio service-style sharing. “From our perspective, this is a win and a very positive development,” he said: “The FCC could have just stopped with no mobile. But they are going the extra mile to look at additional ways to enhance use in the band.”
"The road to freeing more spectrum for commercial purposes is usually jagged rather than straight,” emailed former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly: “Denying mobile use seems contrary to the data but the opportunity for fixed -- under the right conditions, like higher power -- would be rightfully positive and would add to the overall U.S. commercial spectrum picture."
“I am glad we are moving closer to getting fixed use as it seems far more settled science, but I wish the FCC took a more incremental stance regarding mobile operations,” said Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer: “It's a step forward and I'll take it.”
Others were less positive about the FCC’s approach. “The FCC should have gone all the way and permitted mobile use” in the lower band, said Phoenix Center Chief Economist George Ford. Interference studies “show compatibility and the mobile wireless industry needs more mid-band spectrum while satellite providers have plenty of spectrum in other bands,” he said.
Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation broadband and spectrum policy director, said the item is “a significant loss for Dish and the rest of the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition.” The FCC “took issue with a lot of the assumptions in their interference analyses, essentially saying that they don't support the sanguine coexistence conclusions their proponents then were touting, especially with regard to the viability of [non-geostationary orbit] service in less-rural areas,” Kane emailed.
The commission “kept the door open for a variety of fixed deployments,” but the commission's engineers “made a pretty strong statement that they didn't believe coexistence between terrestrial mobile 5G networks and satellite operations in the band would be possible,” said Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy. Westling said questions raised likely won’t be resolved soon. “Perhaps the pressure to make this band available for fixed wireless before BEAD money goes out the door could result in a quicker review, but ultimately we will have to wait and see what the engineering says,” he said.