Carr to Oversee Wireless Infrastructure Push; First Order Set for Vote in November

Commissioner Brendan Carr told a Competitive Carriers Association conference Thursday he has been tasked by Chairman Ajit Pai with overseeing the FCC’s push to overhaul the agency’s wireless infrastructure rules. Pai said the first of the wireless infrastructure items will get a vote at the Nov. 16 FCC meeting (see 1710260049). Carr's remarks were streamed from Fort Worth.

Carr said 5G, if done right, could mean $275 billion in network investment and 3 million new jobs in the U.S. But the FCC needs to play an active role, including streamlining siting rules. He said, “5G is going to require a 10-100-fold increase in the number of cellsites in the country" and "the current regime is not tailored to support this type of massive, new deployment. It costs too much, and it takes too long.”

The FCC will take up a series of orders on wireless infrastructure, starting with eliminating a requirement for historic preservation review in cases where providers “swap out utility poles that can hold antennas or other wireless communications equipment,” Carr said. “As a practical matter, this order could go a long way in speeding the regulatory review process as providers seek to update and densify their networks for 5G.”

Spectrum is also important, Carr said. “The FCC must continue to pursue an all-of-the-above approach,” he said. “We need a spectrum pipeline that can deliver a mix of low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum into the commercial marketplace.” It's also important to make sure providers have the right skilled workers available for the 5G build, he said.

The agency will vote on an order “eliminating the requirement for historic preservation review where utility poles are replaced with substantially identical poles that can support antennas or other wireless communications equipment,” Pai blogged. “This would eliminate unnecessary red tape and accelerate the buildout of wireless networks throughout our nation. If you're simply replacing one pole with another, you shouldn't have to jump through regulatory hoops that slow deployment down.”

Meanwhile, speakers said on a CCA panel a lot of focus is on 5G, but much more can be done with 4G. “There are enough tools in the toolbox,” said Arun Bhikshesvaran, Ericsson North America head-strategy development: “Wireless can become a great equalizer across urban and rural.” Fourth-generation wireless is the platform for business today, he said. “It has plenty of runway left and the spectrum is available. More importantly, the device ecosystem is robust.” While 5G “will come,” it will be built on 4G, he said.

In Gabbs, Nevada, ATN deployed 4G LTE and now the town of a few hundred can offer long-distance learning in its schools, said Ken Borner, vice president-engineering and network operations. “No teachers at all, it’s just a screen, the teacher is remote, students come into the school room,” Borner said. “These are kids that otherwise would have to drive hours on a bus.” Borner said “there’s no escaping” the move to 5G. Think of 5G as a “toolbox,” he said. “It’s going to be an evolution, not a revolution. …One step at a time.”

“We probably haven’t mined all of the capabilities of LTE,” said Chris Stark, Nokia Networks chief strategy and business development officer-North America. “There’s a lot of use cases and bandwidth still that we can get out of” 4G LTE. “There’s still some runway.”

Carrier aggregation is a key element of 5G “and we do that already with 4G,” said Günther Ottendorfer, Sprint chief operating officer-technology. Beam-forming is also already being deployed as part of 4G, he said. With higher frequencies, carriers can use “smarter antennas with more elements, you can shape the beam, which is good for reaching customers at the edge,” Ottendorfer said. “It gives you more capacity in the cell, it reduces noise in the cell and it gives you the capability to serve more customers on the edge.”

The executives agreed there will be a continuing push for more spectrum for broadband. The question is whether there’s enough low- and mid-band spectrum available, Stark said. The 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service band “adds to that pool,” he said. The 3.7-4.2 GHz band is “a really interesting band,” he said. “It’s a big chunk of spectrum.”

Borner said questions remain about whether the sharing regime for the 3.5 GHz band will work. “Give it a try,” he said. “See if it works and work out the wrinkles as we go along.” CBRS “will complement traditional spectrum, it will not replace it,” Ottendorfer said.

Carr said the FCC should launch a regulatory dashboard on its website that tracks rules the agency has eliminated or streamlined, and the burden associated with data and reporting requirements. “Back in D.C., there’s a tendency to pile on just one more regulation, one additional fee, or merely a little more red tape,” he said.