Wi-Fi Advocates Hope 5.9 GHz Order Also Addresses Unlicensed Use

Questions remain about a proposed order on cellular vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated for a vote last week (see 2407170042). The Wi-Fi Alliance asked that the agency also address Wi-Fi in the band. The FCC rewrote rules for the band in 2020, allocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi and 30 MHz for C-V2X technology (see 2011180043).

The FCC issued a news release about the order without including the order's language. That's because the order wasn’t circulated for a vote at an open meeting. For a long time, the agency has faced pressure to make all significant orders public while they’re before commissioners for a vote, not just meeting items (see 2404010062).

The Wi-Fi Alliance said the order appears to address C-V2X in the 5895-5925 MHz part of the band, but not Wi-Fi in the 5850-5895 MHz, which is also known as the U-NII-4 band. The U-NII-4 proposals “have been pending for as long as those regarding the Upper 5.9 GHz band -- over three years,” the alliance said in a filing Friday in docket 19-138.

“Unlike the Upper 5.9 GHz band, for which NTIA recently provided input, there have been no material changes to the record regarding the U-NII-4 proposals since the pleading cycle ended,” the alliance said. The filing was the first in the docket since the notice about circulation of the order.

Wi-Fi advocates are trying to find out whether the order goes further to finalize, or propose finalizing, rules for outdoor use of the new U-NII-4 band, also approved in 2020, said a Wi-Fi proponent who has been active in the proceeding: The order could potentially help by clarifying the out-of-band emissions limits for C-V2X onboard units, an issue that “has been in line ahead of” and potentially “holding up” the FCC’s finalization of Wi-Fi rules. U-NII-4 has been available for indoor use since 2020.

The order should finally lay to rest the “ghost” of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said. The FCC dedicated the band to DSRC in 1999, but the use never gained extensive traction in the U.S. In 2020, despite objections from the Transportation Department, the FCC reallocated the band away from DSRC. Feld noted that even in the Biden administration “diehards” within DOT have sought to reverse that change and “hang on to DSRC.”

“It's been a long time getting here,” Feld said. One area of concern is that the FCC didn’t indicate that the order addresses privacy protection and cybersecurity rules, discussed in the 2020 Further NPRM, he said. “Given the importance the commission has recently placed on both automobile privacy and cybersecurity generally, I hope the order will address these issues in a serious way.”

The purpose of the item was to “highlight details on the C-V2X integration and [Rosenworcel’s] focus on safety and spectrum efficiency,” said Kristian Stout, director-innovation policy at the International Center for Law & Economics. Rosenworcel wants to ensure that new unlicensed use of the band doesn’t harm intelligent transportation systems (ITS), Stout said.

“I've not heard anything that would suggest a big surprise is coming” once the order is released, emailed Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. Kane questioned “whether a more flexible-use style approach, rather than dedicating any band for ITS, would have been better for ITS and alternative users.”

In a recent filing, NCTA said the FCC should address C-V2X and outdoor Wi-Fi rules simultaneously. “Moving forward in this proceeding without rules for outdoor use of the U-NII-4 band would … leave significant benefits on the table for consumers,” NCTA said: “Adopting outdoor C-V2X and U-NII-4 rules simultaneously would best support successful coexistence between the two kinds of operations.”