Wireless and Satellite Industries at Odds on U.S. Positions for WRC
The wireless industry urged the FCC to approve positions that promote 5G and 6G, and international mobile telecommunications (IMT) at the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027. Comments were due Tuesday in docket 24-30 on the FCC’s WRC Advisory Committee's (WAC) early policy positions (see 2408060019). Numerous satellite interests focused attention on: agenda item 1.7, additional mid-band spectrum and the X band being made available for IMT.
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The FCC should “work collaboratively with industry and government stakeholders” and “advance U.S. preliminary views for WRC-27 agenda items that promote the availability of spectrum needed to accelerate the 5G Economy and maintain U.S. global competitiveness and national security,” CTIA said. The group's comments focused on the 7/8 GHz band, “now the global harmonization target for expanding mobile capacity for 5G and beyond.” U.S. carriers, CTIA said, need the band to compete with nations that have access to 6 GHz for IMT (see 2408050034).
“By leading key studies and advocating for global harmonization, the U.S. can renew its leadership in the supply chain and benefit from the resulting momentum that will drive innovation, investment, reduction in deployment costs, and availability of trusted vendors,” CTIA said.
“The Commission is right to work on developing U.S. positions for WRC-27 that further U.S. leadership in the telecommunications sector, including by recognizing the vital role” IMT plays “in advancing U.S. interests,” Verizon said. The U.S. should adopt alternative view 1 in item 1.7, “which supports studies for the use of IMT in 4.4-4.8, 7.125-8.4 and 14.8-15.35 GHz frequency bands, to build a critical spectrum pipeline for 5G and 6G,” the carrier said.
Verizon also called for a U.S. position on agenda item 1.13 that will “leverage U.S. first-mover efforts to promote international harmonization of supplemental coverage from space regimes and to mitigate cross-border interference and prevent interference with users of terrestrial spectrum.” The U.S. position on 1.10, 1.15 and 1.19 should “protect current and future spectrum for IMT from interference by other services.”
T-Mobile staked out similar positions on the agenda items. It cited estimates that by 2028, each smartphone will use 58 GBs of data monthly. “To meet this growing demand and to avoid capacity constraints, U.S. wireless operators need ‘an additional 400 megahertz of full-power licensed mid-band spectrum.’”
Qualcomm called it “imperative that the U.S. facilitate innovation by taking preliminary steps to support the identification of harmonized spectrum for IMT.” Qualcomm cited a Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee report from last year that flagged the lack of “suitable” dedicated or shared mid-band spectrum in the U.S. for 6G (see 2312180052). “The stakes are high as there is presently no mid-band spectrum in the pipeline to meet growing data demands and the next generation of mobile technologies,” the company said.
Satellite Views
Pointing to the FCC’s WAC not reaching a consensus on agenda item 1.7, the Satellite Industry Association backed the option where the U.S. doesn’t support expansion of mobile service into bands where it can’t coexist with and safeguard incumbent operations. SIA said it backed WAC on 1.13 but that studies under the agenda item should focus solely on bands identified in radio regulations for 5G, and that ITU studies should ensure the protection of incumbent services.
Also backing 1.7 Alternative 2, the Commercial Smallsat Spectrum Management Association said the approach balances 5G’s spectrum identification needs with earth exploration satellite service (EESS) current and future deployment needs. It said terrestrial mobile has 18,550 MHz, much of which is not built out, and “the desire for additional bands [is] difficult to justify.” Echoing that view were EESS interests Airbus, Fleet Space, GalaxEye, Infostellar, Lunasonde, Maxar, Satellogic and XTAR.
The FCC should stick to its views during WRC-23 to study all frequency division duplex bands between 694-2700 MHz “to avoid foreclosing promising bands” that could be used for ubiquitous mobile connectivity globally, SpaceX said. It said the U.S. position on Agenda Item 1.16, regarding studies on protecting radio astronomy from non-geostationary orbit system interference, should acknowledge mitigation techniques implemented in the U.S. such as boresight avoidance.
The U.S. position on agenda item 1.3 -- regarding the use of 51.4-52.4 GHz by gateway earth stations transmitting to NGSO systems in the fixed-satellite service -- and agenda item 1.4 -- about a new primary fixed satellite service downlink allocation in 17.3-17.7 GHz and a primary broadcasting satellite service downlink allocation in 17.3-17.8 GHz -- should include a statement about addressing sharing issues among NGSO satellite systems, as well as between geostationary orbit and NGSO systems, Viasat said. The radio astronomy agenda item should acknowledge that some clauses apply to a broader range of frequencies than language adopted by the WAC suggests.