FCC Decision on Next High-Frequency Bands for 5G Seen Unlikely Before Next Summer
The FCC isn't expected to move on the next allocation of high-frequency spectrum for 5G with quite the same speed it authorized the first bands. The FCC approved an order in July (see 1607140052) allocating the first millimeter wave bands for 5G. As part of that order, the agency also asked about 24.25-24.45 GHz and 24.75-25.25 GHz, 31.8-33.4 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz, 47.2-50.2 GHz, 50.4-52.6 GHz, 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz in a Further NPRM. Last week, the FCC got reply comments from an array of players (see 1611010044).
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With the pending change in administrations, and possibility new leadership at the FCC in January, the FCC is unlikely to take up the next phase of its spectrum frontiers proceeding until next summer at the earliest, industry officials said. One potential complication is the need for an agreement on sharing some of the bands with government agencies, including DOD, officials said.
Several telecom lawyers said Chairman Tom Wheeler is unlikely to press for quick action on further bands since the FCC already got the FCC started toward 5G in the July order. The FCC didn’t comment. At the group's annual show in September, CTIA President Meredith Baker urged the FCC to schedule an auction of high-frequency spectrum while Wheeler is still chairman (see 1609070033).
The FCC's FNPRM highlighted potential difficulties. “We recognize that there are challenges that must be overcome before we can authorize service in these bands, including existing allocations and/or operations in these bands,” the FCC said in the notice in docket 14-177. “We will continue to work with existing stakeholders, wireless providers, the satellite industry, NTIA, and other interested Federal stakeholders to determine where different services can coexist and develop ways to maximize flexible use.”
"There is really no urgency for the commission to quickly resolve the further notice issues, even if that were possible,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “The first report and order in July achieved the chairman's goal to move out ahead of the rest of the world by ensuring U.S. carriers and innovators will have access to large contiguous bands of millimeter wave spectrum, both licensed and unlicensed. This can accommodate 5G network densification as it develops over the next five years even if the secondary bands and issues are delayed." Calabrese is a member of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee.
“The FCC has already taken the first step and staked out some territory on this, which is important given the international negotiations on spectrum harmonization for 5G,” said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, who also was on CSMAC. “That was one of the contributing reasons for moving so aggressively from the NPRM” to the first order, he said. The FCC can afford to move more slowly on the other bands, he said. “In any event, the FCC could not go much faster even if it wanted to do so. We are just at the beginning of real testing and first run deployment of a variety of new technologies. In addition, none of the big carriers is likely to want to rush to yet another spectrum auction once the incentive auction closes. The industry will need time to build up new cash reserves.” The comments on the FNPRM give FCC staff plenty to think about, Feld said. “We don't need to rush for the sake of rushing.”
Next summer is “a reasonable decision time frame,” said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. “The FCC staffers will work on the different options and then the commissioners, whoever they will be at that time, will have to make a decision.”
The next round “is certainly more difficult to navigate, but it also presents an opportunity for the next administration to begin to institutionalize a framework for more efficient repurposing of federal spectrum,” said Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “NTIA continues to study bands that present the best opportunity to be put to more valuable use and where legacy systems are most ripe for an update. Finding a way to systematize those transitions, and how they fit within the budgetary process, will be an important goal for the next administration. It makes sense to start with the concrete issues presented in the FNPRM.”
“The issues with federal incumbents in the millimeter wave bands highlight the need for a transition-focused system,” said Richard Bennett, blogger and network architect. “Flexible-use licenses in low bands have been key to U.S. leadership in 4G/LTE, and 5G leadership will go to the nations that are best able to adapt legacy spectrum models to the new realities.” The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology 2012 sharing report (see 1207230040) “failed to deliver a workable plan, but subsequent research will pave the way to more nimble federal systems capable of interacting with public systems more effectively,” Bennett said.