FCC OET Keeps Up With Growing Pressures, FCBA Told

The Office of Engineering and Technology is keeping up with demand, as much of the FCC spectrum agenda flows through his office, said Ron Williams, chief of OET’s Laboratory Division. There’s a lot going on “behind the curtain to make sure the show goes on,” he told FCBA Thursday. “I know sometimes it seems like it’s hard to get an answer, but I’ve been chartered to streamline the processes.”

“As a user or a manufacturer, you may not see the big picture,” Williams said. With all the rules, “you have to go back to make sure you’re not setting a precedent,” he responded to our question. "We do have limited resources,” but he added “four or five or more engineers to address the 5G boom that’s hitting us,” which requires “new rules” and “making sure we’re not stepping on other people's toes," he said.

“It’s hugely important for manufacturers to get products approved on a timely basis,” said Rob Kubik, Samsung Electronics senior director: “We’re a victim of our own technology advancement.” A decade ago, devices were relatively simple and operated in limited bands, he said. “Now you see devices out there with so many bands of operation, it’s a highly complex product” before OET, he said: “It does take a lot of time in the lab to get [testing] done.”

The U.S. spectrum model -- with the FCC overseeing nonfederal spectrum with NTIA in charge of federal use -- is unique, said Jamison Prime, associate OET chief. “We’re not the only competent regulator in this field.” If the FCC itself wants to use spectrum, it goes through NTIA, he said.

“Everyone has heard of the FCC,” Prime said: “We’ve done something horrible. We’ve done something wonderful. No one has ever heard of NTIA, unless you work in the spectrum field.” The big issues between the two agencies have shifted from adjacent channel to co-channel sharing issues, he noted.

Charter Communications invested almost $40 billion in recent years to densify its network and prepare for 5G, said Colleen King, vice president-regulatory affairs. “We’ve always been a wireless company.” She noted more than 80% of traffic in the home travels over Wi-Fi. “We’re looking at all different kinds of spectrum -- unlicensed, shared and unlicensed,” she said. The FCC pending order on 5.9 GHz and its approval of the use of 6 GHz for unlicensed are critical for Wi-Fi, King said. The new Wi-Fi 6 requires 160 MHz channels, and Wi-Fi 7 will use 320 MHz channels, she said. “To really get the full Wi-Fi 6 experience, you need these big channels.”

Satellite operators are proposing 120,000 satellites for non-geostationary orbit over the next 10 years, said Therese Jones, Satellite Industry Association senior director-policy. All won’t launch, but at least 10%, “probably 30-ish percent,” will, she said. Satellite signals are faint compared with terrestrial base stations, she said: “We need unified spectrum policy and defined bands.” Satellite will play a role in 5G, she said: Satellite companies are looking at how they can make use of “much higher" frequencies.

A strength of FCC spectrum policy is that few bands are set aside for specific uses, said Jared Carlson, Ericsson vice president-government affairs and public policy, North America. “There’s no such thing as 5G spectrum” or “4G spectrum. There’s no such thing as Wi-Fi spectrum.” Carriers can easily shift networks to the next generation as long as they stay within “the technical specifications” for a band, without FCC OK, he said.

The U.S. lags behind China, Japan and South Korea in providing midband for 5G, Carlson said. It will start to catch up in 2023, he predicted: The C-band auction “is going to be huge,” and Ericsson hopes a 3.45-3.55 GHz auction will happen “sooner rather than later.”