6 GHz Band Order Seen Likely at April FCC Meeting

CTIA appears to be losing in its push to get the FCC to consider bifurcating the band, making some of it available for licensed use. Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr indicated last week they would prefer to have only unlicensed in the 6 GHz band, providing the broad channels sought by Wi-Fi proponents (see 2002280044). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wants the swath dedicated to Wi-Fi. The FCC didn’t comment.

“This is an immense amount of spectrum, and with appropriate protections for critical incumbent operations, the FCC can double the amount of mid-band spectrum available for unlicensed services by making available just the lower half of the band alone,” said Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs. “That is completely consistent with how other nations are looking at unlicensed access in only the bottom part of the band,” he said: “The FCC could preserve the upper portion of the band for licensed services and future flexibility.”

The order would be “the biggest advancement in unlicensed spectrum ever in the 6 GHz band for the next generation of wireless services,” said Chris Szymanski, Broadcom director-government affairs. “Unleashing the entire 6 GHz band for unlicensed use is the only practical approach for addressing America’s wireless broadband needs for the next 10 years.”

Unlicensed is the “fuel that powers innovation,” critical to technologies including augmented and virtual reality, drones, connected vehicles, telehealth and artificial intelligence, emailed Jamie Susskind, CTA vice president-policy and regulatory affairs. Winning the race to 5G isn't “an either/or proposition of licensed versus unlicensed spectrum,” she said: Both are needed.

Providing "850 MHz of standard power unlicensed in the 6 GHz band would be the biggest contribution to closing the digital divide the FCC could make," said Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken. "This action would solve the dearth of mid-band unlicensed spectrum that is increasingly pressuring the WISP business case." It's "a great opportunity to move forward making hundreds of megahertz available for unlicensed use in the lower portion of the band without setting the stage for harmful interference to broadcasters,” an NAB spokesperson emailed. “Rushing to make the entire band available for Facebook and similar tech behemoths is premature given the uncertainties around the potential for interference.” Some incumbent users want the agency to hold off and/or require automated frequency coordination that some Wi-Fi backers oppose.

The frequencies are “a unique opportunity to dedicate significant mid-frequency bandwidth for unlicensed use, including creating the wide 160 MHz channels needed for the next generation of Wi-Fi,” but the docket is “rife with both technical and policy disputes,” said Jeffrey Westling, R Street Institute fellow. “While it definitely sounds like we are getting closer to a final order, we have been hearing that same thing every month since November,” he said: “Hopefully, this time the rumors are correct and the FCC can issue an order in April.”

“We are hopeful that the Commission will act decisively to address the unlicensed spectrum shortfall which threatens Wi-Fi’s ability to continue to deliver indispensable benefits,” the Wi-Fi Alliance said. “We also expect the Commission to recognize that repurposing 6 GHz for exclusive, licensed use would be highly disruptive to incumbents, is not cost-effective or efficient and, likely, impractical."

The FCC’s February actions on the C-band and citizens broadband radio service items were “tremendously helpful" in opening more spectrum for both 5G and Wi-Fi, and the commission needs to continue to balance the need for both licensed and unlicensed use, said Anna-Maria Kovacs, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy visiting scholar. “The enormous capacity available in the 6 GHz band, a multiple of the capacity of CBRS and the C-band combined, makes it possible to provide for both licensed and unlicensed uses.”

“Lower-power Wi-Fi, limited to indoor use and unburdened by database control, is the single most important aspect of an order that gives Wi-Fi 6 the capacity it needs to make 5G-capable applications and services available to all Americans, particularly those in rural and small town areas who won’t see mobile carrier 5G for many years,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America.

WISPA wrote House and Senate Commerce Committee leaders Thursday: “For small ISPs to remain in business, we must have right-sized policies. We ... have proven our ability to deploy broadband in challenging rural areas that others have chosen to ignore because they cannot make a business case. Simply put, unlicensed access to 6 GHz would help further deployment in these hard to serve areas.” Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo, Calif., Tony Cardenas, Calif., and G.K. Butterfield, N.C., wrote Pai Wednesday on the band's importance, saying the FCC should finalize an order once it’s sure incumbents are protected. “Many rely on the 6 GHz band for public safety uses today,” they said.

Southern Co. met an aide to Pai to raise concerns, said a filing posted in docket 18-295 Thursday. The utility backs "exploring unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band, but emphasized that any rules the Commission may adopt to allow such unlicensed use must include sufficient protections to ensure the integrity and reliability of licensed 6 GHz microwave operations,” it said. The rules “need to promote innovation while protecting incumbent services,” the Ultra Wide Band Alliance said. An alternative would restrict higher-power operations to a 500 MHz swath below 6.425 GHz, the alliance said. “The power levels as proposed in the NPRM will be disruptive to important and critical services.”