FCC High-Band Spectrum NPRM a Partial Loss for Satellite, Unlicensed, Win for Carriers
The FCC offered details on rules opening high-frequency bands for 5G, scheduled for a vote at its July 14 meeting. The FCC said in a fact sheet that the order adds a huge amount of spectrum to what's now available for licensed and unlicensed use, a point Chairman Tom Wheeler made in a major policy speech June 20 at the National Press Club (see 1606200044). The agency said it will impose limits on high-frequency spectrum holdings -- imposing restrictions limiting carriers to buying 1250 MHz of spectrum in the bands in the initial auctions and a threshold of 1250 MHz for case-by-case review of secondary market transactions. Satellite interests were at the commission last week to seek changes.
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“The Report & Order will include rules that continue to promote competitive access to spectrum through scalable competition policies that avoid excessive concentration of licenses and promote innovation in the efficient use of spectrum,” the fact sheet said. The order provides for licensed use of the 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands, the fact sheet said. That makes available 3.85 GHz of “licensed, flexible use spectrum, which is more than four times the amount of flexible use spectrum the FCC has licensed to date," the FCC said.
Details that emerged in interviews Friday showed carriers getting some of what they sought while satellite didn't, when it comes to sharing bands now used for some satellite operations which the commission is freeing up for 5G and other advanced wireless uses. Under the proposed rules for the 28 and 37/39 GHz bands, existing earth stations and those licensed as of July 14 would be grandfathered, while new earth stations would be allowed on the basis of one location per county, said industry and FCC officials. Those new earth stations would be given some interference protection in that they wouldn't have to shut off in case of 5G interference, as long as the earth stations weren't in particularly densely populated areas, an industry official told us.
In the 37 and 39 GHz bands, the spectrum will be offered in “consistent block sizes,” at 200 MHz per license area, sold in partial economic area licenses, with consistent technical rules and “operability across the exclusively licensed portion” of the bands, the FCC said. In the 28 GHz band, the order provides two 425 MHz blocks licensed on a county-by-county basis, the FCC said.
In the 64-71 GHz band, the FCC will make available 7 GHz of unlicensed spectrum “which, when combined with the existing high-band unlicensed spectrum (57-64 GHz), doubles the amount of high-band unlicensed spectrum to 14 GHz of contiguous unlicensed spectrum (57-71 GHz),” the FCC said. The rules also provide 600 MHz for dynamic sharing in the 37-37.6 GHz band. The rules will protect incumbents, including satellite operators, the FCC said.
The NPRM will look at opening additional spectrum bands, the FCC said. They are the 24-25 GHz (24.25-24.45/25.05-25.25 GHz), 32 GHz (31.8-33.4 GHz), 42 GHz (42-42.5 GHz), 48 GHz (47.2-50.2 GHz), 51 GHz (50.4-52.6 GHz), 70 GHz (71-76 GHz) and 80 GHz (81-86 GHz) bands.
Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, expressed deep concerns about the FCC approach. “As we understand it, the order circulated will prove to be a historic mistake that sacrifices competition, innovation and spectrum efficiency,” Calabrese told us. “The exclusive licensing of more than 3,000 megahertz over large geographic areas allows today’s largest wireless carriers to foreclose and warehouse these bands nationwide, when in fact they will deploy on this inherently small cell spectrum only in dense urban environment and profitable venues.” While the FCC is right to set aside 600 MHz for some type of open access sharing, “it is also disappointing that the chairman is not proposing to adopt opportunistic access to unused spectrum across all of these bands in this order, as he did in the initial report and order last year establishing the Citizens Broadband Service at 3.5 GHz,” Calabrese said.
Wheeler Blog
The rules are key to U.S. competitiveness, Wheeler said in a blog post released with the fact sheet. “If the Commission approves the Spectrum Frontiers item, the United States will be the first country in the world to open up high-band spectrum for 5G networks and applications,” Wheeler said in the blog post. “That’s a big deal because it means U.S. companies will be first out of the gate.” The U.S. will repeat “the proven formula that made the United States the world leader in 4G: one, make spectrum available quickly and in sufficient amounts; two, give great flexibility to companies that can use the spectrum in expansive ways; and three, stay out of the way of technological development,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler also commented on what's expected to be one of the most contested part of the rules, requiring sharing of some of the spectrum. The FCC needs to “balance the needs of various different types of uses in these bands through effective sharing mechanisms,” he said.
CTIA is pleased the FCC is moving forward, said Scott Bergmann, vice president-regulatory affairs. “Making high-band spectrum available under straightforward and proven rules is key to our 5G leadership.”
“SIA and its members have closely reviewed the fact sheet and we are formulating responses regarding the issues which specifically affect the satellite industry,” a Satellite Industry Association spokesman said. “In the coming days, we anticipate communicating with the FCC and working with the Commission regarding these specific matters.”
Satellite Concerns
Earth stations' status continue to be a bone of contention between the satellite and wireless industries (see 1606020035). The satellite industry sought co-primary status and access on a protected basis to more than one earth station location per county. One satellite industry executive told us there will be pushes to get changes made in the circulating proposal before the July 14 meeting, with the aim to bring it closer to the fixed satellite service/5G sharing proposed by AT&T and EchoStar.
A satellite industry official said the item on circulation doesn't spell out any rules for aggregate interference. An FCC official told us it more recommends the industries work out a compromise. Aggregate interference is a major concern of numerous satellite operators (see 1606090044 and 1606130043).
The international implications of aggregate interference from upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) service to FSS satellite receivers were given short shrift during the spectrum frontiers proceeding, Lockheed Martin said in a filing Friday in docket 14-177, adding the record contains no agreement, let along convergence, on criteria to be used to assess aggregate interference or the ability of UMFUs protecting FSS. Any FCC action favoring UMFUs in the 28 GHz band must be conditioned on resolution of the aggregate interference issue, Lockheed Martin said. It said the technical record for mobile service use of the 37-39 GHz bands lacks enough detail to make rules on sharing and compatibility.
Hughes Network President Pradman Kaul met with Wheeler and Commissioner Ajit Pai to discuss UMFU/FSS sharing in bands, according to a pair of ex parte filings Friday (see here and here). In an ex parte filling in the docket Friday, SpaceX said it said during meetings with Wireless and International bureau staff that aggregate 5G base station and handset RF emissions pose an interference threat to satellite receive performance.