Commercial Spectrum Critical to Drones, CTIA Tells FCC

CTIA and member companies laid down a marker on the proposed use of the 960-1164 MHz and 5030-5091 MHz bands by unmanned aerial systems, in a meeting with officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. Initial comments are due Thursday on a November FCC notice in docket 19-356. “The Commission’s flexible-use licensing approach has enabled U.S. wireless operators to seamlessly transition from 2G to 3G to 4G and now to 5G services without the need for additional rulemaking processes,” CTIA said, in a letter posted Monday. “Use of commercial spectrum for UAS should not require any changes to this wildly successful approach of allowing industry to develop and protect each entity from interference.” Drones will need “access to commercial mobile spectrum and infrastructure for both communications and control functions,” CTIA said: “While the L-Band (960-1164 MHz) and C-Band (5030-5091 MHz) will have roles in providing safe and secure UAS operations, both are limited due to propagation characteristics and existing uses, and in any event technical and service rules for the bands would take years to develop.” Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Qualcomm representatives were among those at the meeting.