EWA, Utilities Seek 5/5 MHz Broadband Option in 900 MHz Band

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance, Anterix and electric utilities are urging the FCC to take the next step in the 900 MHz band and launch a rulemaking on authorizing 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the band. Utilities are the primary users of the spectrum.

In 2020, near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC authorized 3/3 MHz deployments (see 2005130057). The agency has since authorized about 130 broadband licenses for Anterix in the 900 MHz band, officials said. Anterix is the primary owner of the band segment through spectrum it acquired from Sprint.

“Since the FCC order came out … and since the transition process has started, there has been a lot of momentum,” EWA President Robin Cohen said in an interview. A lot of utilities and other companies “have expressed interest in a broadband opportunity at 900 Mhz.” There’s “a growing need,” she said. Under the 5/5 proposal, unlike the 3/3 order, it would be completely voluntary for 900 MHz incumbents to relocate, she noted. Incumbents would get the same interference protection they have today, she said.

“All we hear about is the commercial networks, and the commercial networks don’t always support the requirements of business/enterprise entities and that’s important,” Cohen said. This gives companies spectrum to deploy private networks that they control, with enhanced privacy and security, she said.

Petitioners “urge the FCC to take the next step in this technology evolution, a step contemplated in its 2020 decision and easily incorporated in the current rules,” by approving the option for 5/5 MHz broadband networks in the band, said a petition EWA posted Thursday after it was filed at the FCC. The petition was endorsed by Ameren Services, Anterix, Evergy, the Lower Colorado River Authority, Portland General Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern Communications Services, the Utility Broadband Alliance and Xcel Energy Services.

The 2020 order “reinvigorated underutilized spectrum by creating an opportunity for utilities and other enterprise entities to design, deploy, and operate private broadband networks that meet their exacting specifications for reliability and security,” the petition argues. Like the commercial broadband market, once private networks deploy “additional use cases and end points are likely to grow continuously, suggesting that additional capacity will be a welcome evolution.”

The petition notes that some businesses have decades of experience deploying and managing narrowband networks, but want to move to broadband. Potential users include “utilities of all types -- electric, oil and gas, water, pipelines, and more,” transportation companies, factories and casinos, the petition said. Utilities face “a range of new realities, including decarbonization commitments, the integration of distributed renewable energy sources, … increasing and more intense weather patterns, wildfires” and “more frequent and sophisticated cyber incursions.”

Anterix CEO Rob Schwartz said during a recent call with analysts the company welcomed Tampa Electric as its sixth utility customer and has achieved 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards approval “giving a clear evolutionary path to 5G for 900 MHz spectrum users.” The company continues “to advance industry-wide support for utility private broadband,” he said.