FCC Approves 42 GHz NPRM Aimed at Wireless Experimentation

FCC commissioners approved an NPRM 4-0 Thursday seeking comment on potential sharing in the 42 GHz band. Industry officials disagree how much interest there will be in using the band on a shared basis (see 2305300055). But all commissioners welcomed the NPRM.

The FCC seeks comment on three potential approaches for the 42 GHz band -- nationwide non-exclusive licensing, site-based licensing, “in which licensees would apply for each deployment site directly" with the FCC, and technology-based sensing (see 2305180069). It proposes to license the band in five 100 MHz channels.

Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel noted she spent part of this week on a “whirlwind of a trip” to an ITU conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt (see 2306070067). The U.S. “can make clear to our counterparts around the world that we intend to lead on spectrum policy,” she said. “Much of what is creative in wireless happened here first, on our shores,” she said: “Our goal today is to continue that creative streak.”

Rosenworcel said when she took over at the FCC, she made clear her belief the FCC had “overinvested” in high-band auctions at the expense of the mid-band needed for 5G. In Egypt, many of the regulators were “wrestling” with the same question -- “what to do with high-band airwaves that have so much capacity but such limited propagation,” she said The U.S. already auctioned almost 5 GHz of millimeter-wave spectrum for licensed use, she said: “I believe it’s now time for something new.”

As the FCC waits for Congress to restore the FCC’s auction authority “there is still some more progress we can continue to make and should make on spectrum matters,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. “This notice is really about whether exclusive or shared-access works best in 42 GHz,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “If sharing is the answer, exactly what licensing model is going to be best?” he asked. One focus is how AI can be leveraged for more efficient sharing, he said.

The NPRM “explores a wide range of both traditional and innovative licensing regimes for the 42 GHz band, yet it also delves into questions that aim to ensure incumbents and primary users are protected from harmful interference,” said Commissioner Nathan Simington.

“We strongly agree with the commission that a shared licensing framework making this high-capacity spectrum available to a very wide range of fixed wireless ISPs, enterprises and other users is the best use of the 42 GHz band,” emailed Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. Coordinated sharing will be “particularly powerful” if the FCC adopts a common framework for the lower 37 and 42 GHz bands, as suggested by NCTA, he said. “Fixed wireless deployments are exploding, adding options and competition for high-capacity broadband at lower prices,” he said: Wide-channel high-band spectrum “can fuel and accelerate this positive trend.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, meanwhile, released a paper asserting spectrum allocation decisions are critical to competitiveness with China. Dynamic sharing “using better antennae, more sophisticated software, and perhaps artificial intelligence,” has potential, but no other country is relying on sharing “to solve the competition problem,” CSIS said.

“Misguided policy decisions could surrender any U.S. lead in 5G and future generations of network technology,” CSIS said: “Unfortunately, the United States is not competitive in how it has allocated the spectrum needed for 5G.” A failure to reallocate more spectrum to licensed use “would put the United States at a competitive disadvantage from which it will be difficult to recover,” the group said.

CSIS notes government users control 60% of the mid-band spectrum critical for 5G, compared to 5% assigned to licensed use, and many government radars make inefficient use of the air waves. “U.S. mid-band allocations diverge from the practices of other leading economies, including China, all of which have allocated much more mid-band spectrum to 5G uses,” the paper said: The comparative “misallocation creates national security risks.”

China has advantages, CSIS warns. “Its spectrum-using military equipment is in some cases newer and more efficient” than that of the U.S., and many incumbents “are state-owned enterprises, making them more attentive to central direction.” Chinese President Xi Jinping made adopting 5G “a priority for China’s move toward a digital economy,” the paper argues: “This top-down attention smooths the Chinese spectrum allocation process, which favors allocating mid-band spectrum by license, creating certainty for Chinese companies to innovate in spectrum-using technology.”