FCC Moving More Slowly Than Expected to Finalize 5.9 GHz Rules

Industry officials say they’re hearing little about when the FCC will approve final rules for the 5.9 GHz band. FCC commissioners approved an order in November 2020 opening 45 MHz of the band for Wi-Fi, while allocating 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. Follow-up work remains.

The FCC approved in April a joint waiver request by Audi of America, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, the transportation departments in Utah and Virginia, Aaeon Technology, Harman International Industries, Panasonic North America and other companies allowing early C-V2X deployments (see 2304240066). Other waiver requests remain pending, including from some state DOTs. The approval of the joint waiver means that Ford, Audi and Jaguar Land Rover can put C-V2X units in vehicles and the Utah and Virginia transportation departments can deploy roadside units in those states.

The April waiver order was a “gap filler,” Wilkinson Barker’s Suzanne Tetreault, counsel to the 5G Automotive Association, said during a June FCBA webinar (see 2306050070). It doesn’t eliminate the need for the final order and it doesn’t apply to everyone, she said. The FCC said in 2020 “we’re going to open up the 5.9 band to C-V2X, but it hasn’t written the rules yet,” she said.

“I expected more urgency on the 5.9 GHz proceeding, and actually its conclusion many, many months ago, given the heavy lifting was already done, and it was a questionable move to untie the waivers and the underlying proceeding,” former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us. O’Rielly voted for the order and had worked with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel before she was elevated to the top spot at the FCC to see it to fruition. Prior to the order, the band had long been assigned to dedicated short-range communications systems, which are being replaced in many cases by C-V2X.

“Consumers are the ones losing out by unnecessarily delaying greater unlicensed opportunities in this band, including faster and more capable Wi-Fi networks,” O’Rielly said. The FCC declined comment Monday. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the 2020 order (see 2208120035).

"This proceeding has taken longer than anyone expected for a variety of complicated reasons,” said Cooley’s Robert McDowell, also a former FCC member. No one should blame the 2-2 FCC, he said. “This is not a partisan issue,” but it is “a highly complex issue,” he said. “In the meantime, some highly desirable spectrum with great propagation characteristics has been lying fallow for too many years.” Couple that with the lapse of the FCC auction authority “and it adds up to an unfortunate moment in the history of America's spectrum management,” McDowell said: “It all undercuts our global competitiveness both economically and strategically."

“We are still paying the price for locking up this band for decades,” said Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. “Shifting to more productive uses is proving a slow process on the technical and regulatory levels,” he said: “This highlights the far-reaching costs of unproductive interagency spectrum claims -- they are harder to unravel than they are to start. Still, there isn't a clear explanation for why it's taking so long, given that some waivers have already been granted.”

The delay is a “mystery to me,” emailed Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld: “I do not understand what is the hold up.”

The FCC has made progress on waivers, noted Jon Peha, professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former FCC chief technologist. “To create an environment that encourages wide-scale deployment of connected vehicle technology, the FCC still needs to establish clear rules, so state and local government agencies and auto companies know what they can deploy in the [intelligent transportation system] band, and what level of interference protection they can expect,” Peha said.

The FCC should consider “whether V2X communications should someday be carried in other spectrum as well” and consider “making the adjacent unlicensed band more suitable for V2X while sharing with Wi-Fi 6 and other technologies,” Peha said. To that end, he recently authored a paper, “Bringing Connected Vehicle Communications to Shared Spectrum.”

The FCC previously cleared early use of the band by wireless ISPs and some cable operators (see 2302100057).

“Cable operators and WISPs are already delivering the benefits of expanded 5.9 GHz Wi-Fi and other unlicensed services to consumers,” a WifiForward spokesperson emailed: “It’s more important than ever to keep up the momentum and make sure American consumers have access to critical unlicensed spectrum. Once the FCC finalizes the rules, we expect even more consumers to be able to benefit from this technology, and we urge the FCC to keep pace with DOT on this critical issue.”

The Wireless ISP Association “looks forward to final rules for unlicensed use” of the band, “which would obviate the need for WISPs to apply for grants of special temporary authority,” said Louis Peraertz, WISPA vice president-policy. More than 100 WISPA members are using the band through STAs “enabling them to meet increased consumer demand for broadband during the pandemic and thereafter,” he said.