FCC OPENS SPECTRUM FOR ‘MILLIMETER WAVE’ TECHNOLOGIES
The FCC voted at its agenda meeting Thurs. to allow use of spectrum in the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-95 GHz bands for commercial services such as high-speed, point-to-point wireless local area networks (LANs) and broadband Internet access. Those spectrum blocks, now used mainly for govt. and scientific purposes, are “well-suited for licensees to offer a broad range of innovative products and services,” the agency said.
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The Commission adopted a “nonexclusive licensing approach” to permit govt. and non-govt. users to share the spectrum. Because the signals transmitted in those bands have a “pencil-beam” characteristic, systems can be engineered to operate in close proximity to one another without causing interference, the FCC said. Under the agency’s approach, traditional frequency coordination between users won’t be required. Instead, each path will be registered in a database and entitled to interference protection based on the date of registration.
FCC officials said they expected the more flexible framework to stimulate investment and spur research into new “wireless optics” technologies using that spectrum. At least 2 companies -- Loea Communications and Endwave -- have developed technology for that part of the spectrum. The decision to open the bands for commercial use grew out of 2 events: (1) A July 2000 FCC public forum in which several speakers said new uses of the 92-95 GHz band were approaching practicality. (2) A Sept. 2001 petition filed by Loea Communications requesting service rules for licensed use of the other 2 bands after experimenting with technology it had developed for those bands. In June 2002, the FCC proposed rules to allow commercial use of the bands.
The Commission’s new licensing mechanism was developed through consultation with NTIA. Acting NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said that “because of where this spectrum is, the sky is the limit” for technological development. He said NTIA would participate in the licensing process by setting up a Web-based platform for assigning licenses through the Internet. NTIA and the FCC will have 4 months to come up with a design for the electronic system and will implement it in another 4 months. “This shows how far we can move when engineers instead of lawyers are [involved in] spectrum policy,” Gallagher told us.
The FCC said the 3 bands would be allocated to both federal and non-federal users on a co-primary basis except the 94.0-94.1 GHz portion, which will be allocated for exclusive federal govt. use. Non-federal users include commercial entities as well as state and local govts. The 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands will be divided into 4 unpaired 1.25 gigahertz segments, for a total of 8 segments, and the segments can be aggregated without limit. The co-primary portion of the 92-95 GHz band will be divided into 2 segments that licensees also may aggregate.
The FCC will issue an unlimited number of nonexclusive, nationwide licenses authorizing non-federal govt. entities to use the entire 12.9 gigahertz of spectrum in those 3 bands. Licensees generally will be given interference protection on a link-by-link basis, with priority being set based on the date of link registration. Until the new electronic registration system is set up, the links will be registered in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System database.
The Commission said it also would permit unlicensed, indoor use of the 92-94 GHz and 94.1-95 GHz bands by nonfederal users under Part 15 of the FCC’s rules.
Comr. Copps said he hoped the new technology would spur more choices of broadband providers. “Perhaps one day we will see millimeter wave wireless broadband, along with powerline broadband and other technologies, providing real intermodal competition,” he said, adding that he hoped they wouldn’t be “dominated by the few companies that dominate currently available broadband technologies.” Comr. Adelstein said this was truly an innovative licensing approach: “In Commission parlance, the item provides for a nonexclusive nationwide licensing approach with site-by-site coordination. In layman’s terms, we are making it easy for our licensees to get access to spectrum for really fast connections.” He said that while he continued to support auctions, this was a case where another approach made sense. “There have been cases where the Commission held auctions only to see that spectrum lay relatively unused for years,” Adelstein said: “This is an opportunity to break that mold.”
The Wireless Communications Assn. praised the new rules, saying they would “trigger an unprecedented wave of innovation… and will pave the way for the development of new, efficient broadband service.”