FCC Gets Praise From ITIF Panelists for Acting More Quickly Than Expected on 5G

The FCC under Chairman Tom Wheeler has been remarkably quick and responsive on making spectrum available for 5G, a differentiator that will make the U.S. the global leader in deployment, 5G advocates said Thursday during Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panel. "The U.S. is going to lead because of the FCC," said Peter Pitsch, Intel executive director-communications policy. He said South Korea, Japan and China are considering 5G trials because they and other nations are "looking at the fact the commission is moving so quickly on allocation and assignment." Qualcomm Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Dean Brenner, pointing to recent speeches by Wheeler (see 1606200044) and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly (see 1606270082), said the agency's consensus on 5G is notable "in an era when everything is partisan."

November's World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) was "disappointing" in failing to free up additional spectrum for 5G, but numerous countries "are keen to lead" and spend significant amounts on public-private partnerships to promote 5G, Pitsch said. The U.S. won't go that route, but it will have spectrum available for flexible use far faster than expected, he said, calling the FCC spectrum frontiers proceeding "one of the most astounding efforts." Lobbying, meanwhile, continues on that proceeding by satellite, wireless carrier and other interests (see 1606300035).

That licensees will have spectrum assignments "is critical," Pitsch said, since it means the U.S. will effectively have assigned the 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands well before WRC-19. Verizon Vice President-Wireless Policy Development Charla Rath said use of 28 GHz for mobile applications wasn't discussed at WRC-15, but 700 MHz for mobile was adopted there -- a step the U.S. took in 2010, indicating the world likely will follow the U.S. eventually on 28 GHz. "That same thing is going to happen here," she said.

ITIF released a report Thursday on the state of 5G and making policy recommendations. ITIF Telecom Policy Analyst Doug Brake said 5G won't supplant 4G anytime soon because 4G still has "a lot of gas left in the tank." That long horizon, plus that 5G deployment scenarios still are being worked out, means the government's role in 5G should be in "stage setting" by allocating millimeter wave bandwidth, Brake said. Regulators also need to streamline infrastructure deployment to smooth the path for not just cell siting but also mobile backhaul, he said.

The ITIF contrasted FCC work on spectrum frontiers with the ITU, which it called "slow to allocate this spectrum to mobile." It also said the U.S.' faster approach may put it out of sync with bandwidth plans developed internationally, "undermining economies of scale in equipment and devices." But it said getting the spectrum in industry hands quickly "far outweighs the possible benefits of waiting for agreement." ITIF said wireless operators need long-term licenses, broad geographic rights and flexible-use allowances, which may point to areas like the EU needing "large-scale spectrum management reform." It said regulators establishing high-band spectrum auctions should keep in mind that high reserve prices or payments "discourage investment in new, unproven technologies that will have significant deployment costs of their own."

The 5G transition "is going to be messier" than the move from 3G to 4G was, Rath said. "This is going to be networks of networks, a lot of different spectrum." She said wireless operators will have to work closely with municipalities and states on small cell densification. ZTE Principal Wireless Architect Tom Mao said 5G adoption likely will be more gradual than 4G was. But Samsung Electronics America Director-Public Policy, Engineering and Technology Robert Kubik said marketing for 5G already has begun in some circles, with some phones being marketed in South Korea as 5G. "It's important not to think of 5G as smartphone-centric," Brenner said. "It will be pervasive, in a lot of different things."

Asked what the most promising 5G applications over 4G are, Brenner cited the industry's traditional approach of inventing new technology and letting the uses sort themselves out. "When folks were inventing 4G ... no one imagined Uber, no one imagined Snapchat." Panelists passed on a question about how 5G and its intelligent, data-sharing networks might work under a net neutrality rubric.