O'Rielly, Rosenworcel Keep Seeking More Spectrum for Unlicensed Use
The U.S. should make more unlicensed spectrum available, FCC commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O’Rielly said in a session at a CableLabs conference Wednesday in New York. The Democrat and Republican also agreed the FCC should move quickly on 5.9 GHz spectrum. The FCC must release high-frequency millimeter wave spectrum if the U.S. is going to lead on 5G, Rosenworcel said. Earlier at the conference, others discussed 5G (see 1604130032).
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Good spectrum policy includes both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, and the FCC should set aside spectrum for unlicensed use in every auction, Rosenworcel said. O’Rielly agreed on the importance of releasing unlicensed spectrum, but cautioned there may be times when it makes sense to release spectrum exclusively for licensed or unlicensed use. In general, there's no partisan divide on unlicensed spectrum, he said. “Times have changed and people see the benefits” of unlicensed spectrum, including cable offloading traffic, he said.
The commissioners supported the FCC acting to open the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi. Rosenworcel said the band is the "single best possibility in the near term for us to have more unlicensed and Wi-Fi." The FCC plans to refresh the record and then begin testing to ensure there’s no interference with its existing use for automobile safety, she said. The commissioners cited support for testing in Congress and the automobile industry. O’Rielly said he believes the Department of Transportation gets where the issue is headed, but the FCC doesn’t answer to DOT.
On 3.5 GHz, O’Rielly said the FCC has a final item circulating but he would like to see some changes on the licensed side: “That can be done without harming the unlicensed part of the equation.” Rosenworcel said what the commission is doing on 3.5 GHz band is “unique and leading” because it opens use of the airwaves to government, licensed and unlicensed use. If it works, it could be a model the FCC uses for other bands in the future, she said.
A big hurdle to releasing unlicensed spectrum has been the Congressional Budget Office, which scores all spectrum legislation based on how much money the government will get for selling spectrum, without accounting for potential long-term economic benefits of giving some away, Rosenworcel said. The point of releasing unlicensed spectrum isn't to make money right away, but to promote economic activity that will lead to benefits in the future, she said. She urged a change in CBO scoring methods. O’Rielly, another former Capitol Hill staffer, said he sympathizes but believes changing CBO scoring “is one of the hardest things we can do.”
The U.S. must look at millimeter wave spectrum if it wants to lead on 5G, Rosenworcel said. “Today, most of our wireless activity happens in 3 GHz and below,” she said. “But given the demand for airwaves, the capacity demands in particular, we are going to have to bust through that 3 GHz ceiling and start looking at spectrum that is way, way up there.” That spectrum has a lot of capacity, but doesn’t go far in distance, she said. But small cells can be deployed to overcome that challenge, she said. The FCC must look at millimeter wave bands, including 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 64-71 GHz, she said. The 28 GHz should be the priority, because it’s the band that East Asian countries are exploring for millimeter wave use, she said. “If we want some of the standardization activity to happen here on our shores, I think we need to be moving in this band and we need to be moving fast.”
“We live in a world that’s gone wireless,” and wireless use will only expand as the world moves to the IoT, Rosenworcel said. That puts pressure on policymakers to release spectrum, she said. “Washington is paying attention.”