4.9 GHz Band Could Get Quick Further Action at FCC

The 4.9 GHz band appears to be one of the wireless items likely to get further FCC action relatively soon, industry and FCC officials told us. Comments have been in since January on rewriting the rules, and 4.9 has long been a focus of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. There's also general agreement that the band has been underutilized for a long time.

In May 2021, shortly after becoming acting chair, Rosenworcel got the FCC to stay the 2020 order, which gave states control over how the band is used (see 2105270071), over a dissent by Commissioner Brendan Carr. Both Rosenworcel and fellow Democrat Geoffrey Starks opposed the earlier order (see 2009300050). In September, commissioners agreed to ask new questions in a Further NPRM (see 2109300053).

“The FCC, from Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s office to the individual commissioners, have clearly demonstrated an interest in public safety communications issues,” Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association, told us. “We are optimistic that they have heard us through our filings and are anxious to get the 4.9 spectrum back in the hands of public safety where Congress intended it to be,” he said: “4.9 spectrum is excellent mid-band spectrum for solutions such as 5G and potential indoor solutions. The public safety technical community will fully utilize and quickly deploy this spectrum for public safety.”

Rosenworcel has dropped hints that more action is coming. She mentioned 4.9 GHz in a speech in February on the 10th anniversary celebration of FirstNet, and in March in her remarks at the Mobile World Congress. The FCC didn’t comment.

Rosenworcel was asked about the band by House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., in written questions after a recent House hearing. “Under my leadership, the FCC is working with public safety entities and associations to increase investment in and maximize use of the 4.9 GHz band,” Rosenworcel said: “In doing so, I am committed to preserving public safety opportunities and protecting the investments they have made in communications service. … At present, FCC staff is reviewing the record filed in response to this rulemaking and developing recommendations for next steps.”

“It seems logical that Republicans could reach a compromise with Democrats on this band,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. “The Republicans agreed to pull back the fairly radical changes adopted near the end of the Trump administration after very heavy pushback from state and public safety entities, so it would appear that the Republicans are not wedded to the free-market approach adopted by the previous report and order,” he said. Feld sees the biggest problem as a lack of agreement on why the band has remained underutilized. “Without a clear understanding of why the band is underutilized, it is impossible to adopt rules to address the issue,” he said.

Democrats appear committed to “making public safety uses the centerpiece of the band while the Republicans view the current underutilization as a reason to make commercial use more of a priority,” emailed Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. “It's notable that, while Commissioner [Nathan] Simington voted with the Dems on the stay of 2020 rules that would have allowed states to lease out the band, his statement on the FNPRM was gung-ho about auctioning exclusive licenses in the band,” he said. A divide would slow action but “it seems like there should be a way to find some kind of compromise,” Kane said: “It's in no one's interest to have this band continue to lie largely fallow.”

This band can play a role in “augmenting wireless capacity in urban areas,” but the FCC “made an error in placing a stay on the proceeding and the longer we wait for a … compromised position, the higher the climb,” said Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer. We won’t know whether public safety will be satisfied with the approach the FCC takes until an order is released, he said.

Phoenix Center Chief Economist George Ford, author of a March paper urging turning the band over to FirstNet (see 2203070064), said he has heard nothing concrete about what the FCC will do next.