Experts Predict Huge Number of Items Will Compete for Place on WRC-27 Agenda

Delegates to the World Radiocommunication Conference last year dealt with a slew of proposed future agenda items for WRC 2027, Michael Mullinix, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, said during a panel discussion at an FCBA webinar Wednesday (see 2402140051). Similarly, an unusually large number of items on the 2023 agenda remained from 2019, Mullinix said. The U.S. delegation offered a “whopping” 18 proposals for the 2027 agenda; more than 40 proposals came from other regions, he said. “That’s a lot of proposals, and more importantly, a lot of priorities for each country that submitted them,” he said. The goal is narrowing the focus to a “manageable” 15 to 18 topics during the four-year study period, Mullinix said. “The work is already underway toward WRC-27 decisions today,” he said. It’s already clear that the biggest focus of the U.S. in 2027 will be making more mid-band spectrum available for full-power licensed use, he said. Recent studies suggest U.S. wireless networks will “fall short” of meeting expected demand “absent new spectrum access,” he said. Mullinix said 7/8 GHz, which will get further study under the administration’s national spectrum strategy (see 2402090059), is “now the global harmonization target for expanding capacity for 5G and beyond.” Spectrum policy is critical to ensuring that trusted equipment suppliers have “the global economies of scale needed to compete, and don’t have to develop unique equipment just for the U.S. market,” he said. HWG’s Tricia Paoletta said it’s also clear the U.S. will continue pressure at the next WRC to protect the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and unlicensed use. “The U.S. is also the global leader in the Wi-Fi ecosystem,” which next year is expected to be worth $5 trillion, she said. U.S. companies “hold the vast majority of intellectual property rights … so it’s a very critical area for the United States’ economy too,” she said. Chinese operators, led by Huawei, will continue pressuring other countries to allocate the 6 GHz band for international mobile telecommunications, Paoletta said. Hogan Lovells’ George John noted that 7/8 GHz is already used for unlicensed operations, earth exploration and space research. It's important because the amount of space research services spectrum available is limited, he said. All the bands to be studied for licensed use will present complications for policymakers, John predicted. U.S. leadership in 5G and 6G is “super important,” but “we also need to love the incumbents,” he said.