FCC Focused on 3.1-3.45 GHz, 6G: Rosenworcel

The FCC remains focused on opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. Other speakers said the U.S. is making progress on 5G, but it's a time of uncertainty and change on spectrum policy. Promoters had planned an in-person event but took it virtual with the rise in COVID-19 infections.

“We are freeing up more spectrum, and especially mid-band spectrum,” Rosenworcel said: “We are making sure there is a pipeline that continues to channel spectrum for new uses.” The 3.45 GHz auction “will demonstrate the future viability of coordination zones that require private carriers to depend on other federal actors for information or access,” she said.

Rosenworcel also wants a focus on 6G. South Korea “aims to deploy 6G networks in 2028 and has announced a program to develop the core standards and technologies within the next five years,” she said. Finland and Japan are also moving, she said. China’s five-year plan for economic development, released in March, “makes clear that, even before the ink is dry on many 5G contracts, it is gearing up for next steps in 6G.”

This is “a strange time in U.S. wireless,” said Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten. “Exciting things are happening” with 5G “steadily rolling out” and the 3.45 GHz auction underway, he said. But President Joe Biden hasn't named a permanent FCC chair or NTIA administrator, and Rosenworcel could have only a few months left in office, he said. Infrastructure legislation could be a “boon for wireless, but without permanent telecom leadership it might be easier for wireless to get left on the sidelines,” he said.

There are many open questions on wireless policy, said Umair Javed, Rosenworcel’s acting chief counsel. “Given all the attention on spectrum and the prices that get paid for it, I am always taken aback by how much ... disagreement there is about how much spectrum is needed to satisfy demand or even how much is currently in use,” he said: “These are hard questions to answer.”

“We are on the cusp of new technologies and these technologies are going to disrupt at an exponential pace the way we live, communicate, govern and work,” Javed said. We have to do things differently and can’t continue to reallocate bands for new uses, he said. “We know that this is getting harder and harder and that there are fewer opportunities open to us.”

Innovation in government spectrum use is “often really underappreciated,” said Derek Khlopin, NTIA senior adviser. Government is committed to advancing 5G, he said: “The U.S. is now not only the first to make massive amounts of millimeter-wave spectrum available, but now we’re a leader in bringing mid-band spectrum to market.”

Government was “nimble” enough to make the 3.45 GHz band available quickly, Khlopin said. “When working together, the government can respond to a pressing commercial demand.” Government “isn’t sitting still” and is working with the FCC and DOD to make the 3.1-3.45 GHz band available for 5G, he said. “We have to accept an increasingly congested spectrum environment" and "we must explore other methods including dynamic spectrum access and sharing,” he said. Khoplin said incumbent informing capability (IIC) sharing technology being explored by DOD (see 2102220050) would “provide federal agencies a common, scalable platform to help facilitate spectrum sharing,” he said.

Rosenworcel accelerated the start of the 3.45 GHz auction and CTIA appreciates the focus on the band directly below, said General Counsel Tom Power. CTIA wants to work with the U.S. government on a national spectrum strategy but realizes it will be part of a “broader economic policy” for the Biden administration, he said.

“If we’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that we do need a national, unified approach to spectrum policy,” Javed said. “That’s one thing that you see a lot of agreement on early in this administration.” The administration also recognizes that spectrum policy should mean more competition, he said.

Conference Notebook

Charles Cooper, NTIA Office of Spectrum Management associate administrator, said some big picture themes are starting to emerge on analyzing interference and allowing more sharing. Aggregate interference is a big issue, he said: In the citizens broadband radio service band, the government had to look at protecting military assets potentially “in the presence of millions of new commercial … devices,” he said: “Trying to account for that makes a big difference in the modeling.” The analysis has to recognize “nothing in RF is 100%” and “we can’t guarantee 100% certainty” and that requires risk-based analysis, he said. Handsets or user devices, with their low-power levels, are rarely a concern for out-of-band emissions relative to transmitters, he said. Receiver issues also loom large, he said. “There are effectively no receiver standards out there now, but when we do these analyses you have to characterize the receiver performance, which is challenging to do,” he said. NTIA is excited about the potential for IIC, he said. “It’s still a concept -- unfortunately we haven’t received any funding,” he said.

While “it’s still early,” Verizon is “very optimistic” about the kind of sharing in the CBRS band, said Patrick Welsh, vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs. Verizon was the largest winner of licenses in the CBRS auction, he noted. You need to be able to share information about the different systems there, which has been a “lagging problem,” he said: “There isn’t, right now, a solid framework to exchange that information and that needs to be a focus.” Verizon sees promise in IIC as an alternate to the current sensing, he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of Wi-Fi, said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-worldwide regulatory affairs. “Over the last year, we have seen a marked increase in the number of wireless devices per household and an increase in volume of traffic … and demand for localized connectivity,” he said. Due to a lack of spectrum capacity, 60% of U.S. consumers still experience Wi-Fi problems on a daily basis, he said. Opening the 6 GHz band was important, but the U.S. should follow global regulators in finalizing rules for very-low-power devices, Roytblat said. “Now is not the time for the U.S. to hold back on enabling technological innovation and give up on leadership in spectrum policy.”

The average American uses at least 10 wireless devices every day and sometimes many more, said Ron Rapasi, acting chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. “We’re all conducting business now for this virtual event using wireless devices and networks in some form or fashion,” he said. Rapasi noted all the FCC proceedings focused on mid-band spectrum. Providers want to bring their networks closer to consumers, and spectrum “is becoming more congested as wireless carriers densify,” he said. “Our job as spectrum managers is to be good stewards … and look for ways to share the spectrum in the most efficient manner.”