FCC Posts Draft NPRMs on 42 GHz, NG911 Set for June 8 Votes

An FCC draft NPRM, released Thursday, on the 42 GHz band seeks comment on three versions of a shared licensing approach. A proposed NPRM on facilitating the launch of next-generation 911 is a follow-up to a National Association of State 911 Administrators' petition seeking a rulemaking or notice of inquiry to fully implement NG911 (see 2110190066 and 2201200043), a draft makes clear. The FCC also released a draft NPRM proposing to strengthen robocall and robotext rules. All are scheduled for commissioner votes at the June 8 meeting. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel unveiled the agenda Wednesday (see 2305170059).

“As more advanced, spectrum-intensive technologies develop, finding new ways to increase access to spectrum will only become more important,” the 42 GHz draft says: “Innovative, non-exclusive spectrum access models have the potential to provide solutions in this evolving space” and the NPRM seeks comment on “how such models might be deployed” in 42-42.5 GHz.

The spectrum is unique because, unlike most millimeter-wave bands, there are no incumbents, federal or nonfederal, the FCC said. The lower adjacent 40-42 GHz band has been designated for satellite use and the 42.5-43.5 GHz band is allocated to radio astronomy services, which would have to be protected from harmful interference, the draft notes.

The three models proposed are nationwide non-exclusive licensing, a site-based licensing approach “in which licensees would apply for each deployment site directly with the Commission,” and a technology-based sensing approach, under which licensees would rely on technology “to avoid harmful interference from one another without the use of a registration database.” The draft proposes to divide the spectrum into five 100 MHz bands.

The 42 GHz band has gotten some attention in the past, including a 2018 notice that proposed to dedicate it to flexible wireless use (see 1809110040). The Wireless Bureau created a new docket Thursday, 23-158, captioned “Shared Use of the 42-42.5 GHz Band.”

The draft NG911 NPRM proposes to require that following the “valid request” of 911 authorities, which established the capability to accept NG911-compatible, IP-based communications, wireline, interconnected VoIP and internet-based telecommunications relay service, providers must complete “all translation and routing to deliver 911 calls, including associated location information” in an IP-based format. The FCC also proposes that wireless and the other providers would have to transmit all 911 calls to destination points designated by a 911 authority.

The draft proposes that, “in the absence of agreement by states or localities on alternative cost recovery mechanisms,” providers would have to cover the costs of transmitting the calls in an IP-based format.

“Like communications networks generally, dedicated 911 networks are evolving from Time Division Multiplex-based architectures to Internet Protocol-based architectures,” the 911 draft argues: The new rules “are intended to expedite the NG911 transition and help ensure that the nation’s 911 system functions effectively and with the most advanced capabilities available.”

A third draft NPRM proposes to “strengthen the ability of consumers to decide which robocalls and robotexts they wish to receive, close loopholes that allow certain callers to make robocalls and robotexts without consent and without the ability for the consumer to opt out, and to codify the commission’s past guidance on consent to make these requirements easily accessible and apparent to callers and consumers,” says a fact sheet.

The draft proposes that callers and texters must honor company-specific do not call and revocation of consent requests within 24 hours of receiving such request. It also proposes limiting the current exemption to the consent requirement by requiring wireless providers to honor their customers’ requests to cease robocalls and robotexts.

The item would also seek comment on several Telephone Consumer Protection Act consent issues raised in pending petitions for declaratory ruling. If adopted, the item would seek comment on adopting the commission’s decision in the Soundbite declaratory ruling, which clarified that a one-time text message confirming a consumer’s opt-out request was not a TCPA violation if it is only confirming the consumer opted out of receiving further text messages.