Spectrum Focus for 2020 Will Be on Execution, O'Rielly Says

LAS VEGAS -- This year will be one of “execution” on making more spectrum available for 5G and Wi-Fi, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in an interview at CES. O’Rielly and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr spoke on a panel, after remarks by Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai wasn’t asked about and didn’t provide any additional details on the 6 GHz band or C band (see 2001070054).

“It’s about answering a couple of smaller questions” on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band “and getting to the auction,” O’Reilly said. “It’s about dealing with 3.1-3.55. It’s about getting C band answered. It’s about execution.”

The FCC will have to make policy “cuts” on some spectrum issues “and then live with the consequences,” O’Rielly said. O’Rielly, who oversaw changes on CBRS, said he's pleased with how those have gone, and industry is interested. “We’re excited,” he said. “We have some things we have to answer” on the C band, he said. “They’re all the things I’ve been working on, I know very well and now we can make some cuts and get the auction done this year. … Speed is very important.”

O’Rielly expects a relatively quick decision on sharing the 6 GHz with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed. “I’m really excited on what 6 GHz represents,” he said: “It’s wide channels to offer all kinds of services.” He predicted a three-tier structure, with high-power channels requiring automated frequency coordination, plus low- and very low-power operations. “You combine that with the licensed and it’s just a great portfolio,” he said: “It shows that the commission has been very active on these issues and very aggressive.”

“I don’t know what the chairman has planned” on spectrum, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told us. “I will wait to see where he takes things. If he’s going to move a lot of spectrum I certainly think focusing on mid-band spectrum” has support from industry. “It’s important if we’re going to continue to compete and win the race to 5G,” he said.

The 5.9 GHz band could help with Wi-Fi congestion, Starks said. The Office of Engineering and Technology is looking at interference concerns at 6 GHz, he said: “I’ll be guided by the science when the decision is before me.”

Commissioners' Panel

During the panel O’Rielly noted he has spent the past three years dealing with mid-band. “It’s easier to have mid-band spectrum elsewhere where they don’t have sophisticated military as we do,” he said. “It’s not super easy.” C band “has its own peculiar issues,” he said.

The FCC has “taken some bold action” on both spectrum and wireless infrastructure since he joined the commission 2017, Carr said. “It’s creating jobs, it’s creating economic opportunity,” he said: “The momentum that America now has for 5G is unmistakable.” The U.S. is “in good shape” on mid-band, with spectrum being made available in the 2.5 and CBRS bands, Carr said. “We’re committed to getting C band across the finish line in 2020.”

Starks hopes to see more focus on mid-band spectrum. He said he visited a drone facility Tuesday “and they were really focused on 3.5,” he said. The 5.9 GHz band, which the FCC is reviewing for unlicensed and other use, may benefit “low-income and vulnerable folks who use a lot of public Wi-Fi,” he said. Starks noted he has had “strong concerns” about a private auction in the C band.

"The data flowing in” shows companies are building out more quickly with less red tape because of infrastructure "reform," Carr said. “Internet speeds now are up 56 percent compared to where they were two years ago” and the Americans without access to broadband “narrowed by 20 percent over a one-year period,” Carr said: Fiber “had a record-breaking year -- more miles of fiber were built out than ever before.” More changes to wireless infrastructure rules could be on the way in 2020, he said.

Fifth-generation wireless should be available everywhere “and we need to make sure that the workforce that’s helping to build out that 5G looks like America as well,” Starks said. People of color and women disproportionately hold jobs as machinists, truck drivers, back-office staff and other positions likely to be displaced by new technology, he said.

The FCC needs to “start to think about what 5G is really going to mean for everyday Americans,” Starks said. O’Rielly questioned whether it’s the agency’s job to ask those types of questions. “It’s possible we might have stretched the boundaries of what the FCC can solve,” O’Rielly said.

“It’s really important that we start to break out of silos,” Starks responded. “Am I the labor czar of America? No,” he said: We “can’t just be focused on how we deploy 5G.”

Wireless and satellite have a role to play, O’Rielly said. “To say that we’re going to have fiber throughout the United States is both not realistic and it's not technically doable.”

CES Notebook

The newly reconstituted FTC, with five commissioners, has been a challenge for staff and the FTC bar, Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Christine Wilson said during a panel Tuesday. “We’re coming in, we’re asking different questions,” Slaughter said: “All of us in different ways are challenging the status quo, how the agency has been doing things, which is good, that’s how we’re supposed to be doing things. … But that also can be challenging for the staff.” Wilson agreed. “For staff it has been a significant adjustment,” she said, noting there were only two members for a long time. “Suddenly, you have five commissioners who are asking a lot of questions,” she said. “It’s especially noticeable in the recommendation memos that come up,” she said: “The questions that I was asking at the beginning are not answered proactively.”

The two commissioners agreed on the importance of a federal privacy law. The FTC needs more resources, Slaughter said. “The FTC has a budget of just around $300 million” and fewer employees now than 40 years ago, she said: “Compared with the growth of our enforcement mandate, we can’t possibly can’t do all the things we need to do with the resources that we have.” The agency also needs additional authority, Slaughter said. “Federal privacy legislation would be a good thing.” When the California and European laws took effect, “it made very clear that we do need federal privacy legislation because interoperability matters,” Wilson said. “Are we creating an environment in which U.S. companies can operate in this global economy … and how do you facilitate data flows?” Businesses need predictability and clarity and consumers need more transparency on what data is collected and how it’s used, she said.

U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra stressed the importance of 5G security and security in opening remarks to a 5G panel Tuesday. "Is government ready for 5G?” he asked: “Have we done the things that enable the products and the services that you are working on to come to market and deliver the benefits and the promises to consumers. Is it a facilitator or an inhibitor?” He told the audience to consider such matters as how to define the role of government. “We want an open, global competitive market for 5G that functions under the rule of law in a framework that we can trust.” Nobody, the government included, could have anticipated the kinds of changes that fifth-generation wireless brought about in a short time in the last decade, he said: "We need to get government at a point where it works cooperatively coordinating with industry to modify and update rules and regulations as quickly as possible. The U.S. views fifth-gen as a great global opportunity.” Hoekstra was a longtime GOP member of the House from Michigan.

Melissa Tye, Verizon associate general counsel-emerging technologies, said the U.S. has done a "great job" making high- and low-band spectrum available for 5G. "5G will involve all the levels of spectrum,” Tye said Tuesday: “Now is the time to transition to the mid-band and putting more spectrum in the pipeline, particularly the C band." She noted the 3.5 GHz auction will happen in June and it's important that the C band also move forward, which is "why we are going to focus on that as much as possible in 2020." Jayne Stancavage, Intel executive director-communications policy, said the company is "laser focused" on making the C band available as "soon as possible.” They may have to wait another month, as the FCC signaled Wednesday its members won't vote on the issue at their Jan. 30 meeting (see 2001080049).