Regardless of Election Results, FCC May OK 5.9, 6 GHz Orders in 2020

The FCC is expected to vote on an order opening the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything in November and an order on proposed further changes in the 6 GHz band in December, regardless of what happens in the Nov. 3 election. Chairman Ajit Pai likely will have broad support for the changes even if Joe Biden is elected and FCC control shifts to Democrats in January, agency and industry officials told us.

In 2016, after Republican Donald Trump won, Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler pulled all major items from the November FCC meeting agenda in response to pressure from congressional Republicans -- backed by GOP commissioners (see 1611160048). Wheeler got a vote on one substantial item, approving a common standard for the transition from texting to real-time text (see 1612150048), before leaving in January.

There's a tradition of the FCC doing little after a change election, but the 5.9 and 6 GHz items could be different because FCC Democrats Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks support them and recognize the importance of unlicensed spectrum, especially during the pandemic, officials said. They are said to recognize delays until next year could slow work on both. In 5.9 GHz, it would put the next administration in the position of having to make a change the Department of Transportation has opposed.

Wi-Fi advocates agree both items will likely proceed because they have bipartisan support. Opponents said they're bracing for action post-election.

“While the FCC typically avoids controversial or partisan votes after an election that results in a new president, that should not impact orders that will receive a 5-0 vote based on a well-developed record,” said Michael Calabrese, director of New America's Wireless Future Program. He cited the original TV white spaces order, adopted on Election Day 2008, even though it was clear Democrat Barack Obama would win and Republican Chairman Kevin Martin would exit.

"The initial 6 GHz decision was transformative for the Wi-Fi ecosystem, but the remaining unresolved issues impede many innovative use cases,” said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-worldwide regulatory affairs. “With countries in Europe and Asia moving rapidly to enable IoT, cloud, and edge computing in the 6 GHz band, Wi-Fi industry is optimistic that the commission will act promptly."

Parties continue to lobby the FCC in both proceedings, with lots of activity in recent weeks. Some recent meetings of 6 GHz have been with commissioners (see 2010160027).

Tech companies defended a report by RKF Engineering Solutions, which they say shows the 6 GHz band can be opened without harmful interference to incumbents (see 1801260043), in a letter posted Monday in docket 18-295. The Monte Carlo simulations used in the study are “conservative and provide real-world estimates of the interference expected from” very low-power (VLP) devices “to fixed microwave stations in the 6 GHz band,” said Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft, NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm.

Southern Co. said the FCC shouldn’t misread a recent study by the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina on body loss for VLP devices. While the analysis “is well executed and the data provided appears valid, the interpretation of these test results by [6 GHz] proponents is inaccurate and misleading,” it said.

Meetings also continue on 5.9 GHz rules. In the most recent filing, posted Monday in docket 19-138, Qualcomm told a Pai aide and Office of Engineering and Technology staff nothing in the record justifies a proposed 10 MHz allocation for dedicated short-range communications (see 2010080029).