CTIA Urges Reallocation of 3.3-3.45 GHz for Licensed Wireless Use

CTIA asked the government to reallocate the top 150 MHz of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band to wireless broadband, noting the spectrum is seen globally as a “core 5G workhorse, providing the capacity needed to connect the industries of the future.” More than 70 countries are planning or using 5G in this band, and in 30 of those countries it safely coexists with the same U.S. military radar systems that are used domestically, CTIA said Tuesday. CTIA released three other reports, by GSMA, DLA Piper and CCS Insights, exploring how the military uses the band.

“Countries where U.S. military systems operate alongside lower 3 GHz 5G networks include Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico and several NATO member states,” CTIA said. “These systems also operate alongside full-power 5G signals in the lower 3 GHz band within the continental United States along the border with Mexico. Research shows that Mexican providers operate 5G in the band without restriction less than four miles from Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.”

Federal policymakers are completing work on a study of the band, as required by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. DOD and Commerce Department staff are finalizing recommendations (see 2308070001).

The infrastructure act required Commerce to submit a report to the president and to the FCC by Sept. 30 (see 2111120050). Experts say the report is unlikely to be ready much before that date as DOD works through a multi-level, labyrinthine process to complete the report. The act specifies that an auction can't start before Nov. 30, 2024.

The report was done in anticipation of the federal report to offer a clearer view of how the band is being used abroad, Doug Brake, CTIA assistant vice president-policy communications, told us. “Frequency coordination techniques, retuning, compression can assure that there is no chance of harmful interference while deploying 5G and protecting the military radars that several important government missions depend on,” he said.

The research shows coexistence in the lower 3 GHz band is “eminently achievable today using sort of basic, straightforward coordination techniques, without reliance on any kind of complex, dynamic sharing system,” Brake said.

T-Mobile has complained about the problems it faced obtaining access to cooperative planning areas that protect some military facilities in the 3.45 GHz band, auctioned two years ago (see 2303220059). “That’s part of why we are proposing to segment the band at 3.3,” Brake said. Evidence from other countries indicates systems in 3.3-3.45 GHz can be readily retuned to lower frequencies, he said. CTIA recognizes there may be some systems that can’t be moved and may need to be protected. Evidence from Ft. Bliss indicates the separation distance needed “is really quite small” even for high-power ground-based radars. “If geographic separation is necessary that can be done with relatively small separation areas,” he said.

The DLA Piper report identifies some of the DOD systems in the band. The Army and Marine Corps “routinely conduct operations supported by land-based radars,” including tracking radars located at 3.11-3.49 GHz, the firm said: The Navy “maintains ships that utilize air and surface search radar” that “generally operate between approximately 3.1 and 3.5 GHz. The Air Force’s airborne operations are largely supported by the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), “which is scheduled to be replaced in the next few years by the E-7 Wedgetail, and Navigational Station Keeping Equipment.” AWACS operates at 2-4 GHz while SKE generally uses the 3.3–3.6 GHz range, the firm said.

“These real-world examples demonstrate a clear path forward to make available at least 150 megahertz of lower 3 GHz spectrum for full-power 5G services while safeguarding the military systems protecting Americans,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker.

“DOD has given every indication that coordinated sharing of the lower 3 GHz band is feasible,” emailed Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America. The primary issue will likely to be “the power levels and the size of any licensing areas that can be auctioned,” he said: CTIA hopes to “engineer an outcome that effectively limits use of the band to the three national mobile carriers. But the lower power and small licensing areas that may be necessary to coexist with military systems can be a win-win for the broader 5G wireless ecosystem if it enables far more diverse and local access for wireless operators and use cases, including industrial users, enterprise networks, rural providers and schools and libraries.”

New Street’s Blair Levin said an FCC decision on the 13 GHz band, another FCC focus (see 2308140046), will probably have to wait for a decision on a 3.1 GHz auction. “Spectrum allocation at the FCC gets harder during a presidential [election] year, for obvious reasons,” he said.