Most Commenters See Lower 37 GHz as Ideal Candidate for Sharing

A group of companies and associations, including Federated Wireless and Charter Communications, urged the FCC in comments this week to adopt a nonexclusive, nonauctioned shared licensed framework in the lower 37 GHz band. The band is one of five targeted for further study in the administration’s national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048). Comments were due Monday in docket 24-243 and most were posted on Tuesday.

As expected, wireless carriers didn’t push for the frequencies to be auctioned but said the FCC should protect licenses in the upper portions of the band (see 2407240039). The FCC sold licenses in the upper 37 GHz band as part of a millimeter-wave auction that ended in January 2020 (see 2003120054). The notice explores the future use of the 37-37.6 GHz band.

In a joint filing, Charter, Federated, the Open Technology Institute at New America, Qualcomm, Starry and the Wireless ISP Association said in recent months they have “coalesced around … proposals and recommendations” for the future of the lower 37 and 42 GHz bands. “The Commission has consistently recognized the value of shared licensed spectrum as part of its broader spectrum policy portfolio” and the citizens broadband radio service band “shows that licensing and sharing rules for innovation bands can and should continue to evolve along with technology and use cases,” they said.

“Millimeter wave spectrum is particularly useful for high bandwidth applications over short or medium distances,” the joint filing said: This includes mobile wireless use in dense areas, fixed applications that support GB speeds to end users, IoT applications “that require high bandwidth” and “mobile or fixed broadband backhaul or mobile broadband fronthaul” as well as “myriad other uses that will evolve over time.”

A year ago, the FCC sought comment on different approaches to future use of the 42 GHz band (see 2306080042). Many commenters urged a nonexclusive licensing approach for it and the lower 37 GHz band (see 2310020041).

NCTA called the lower 37 GHz band “the most viable … available for near-term deployment, investment, and innovation” among high-band frequencies. Cablers supported shared use of the spectrum, saying it would provide “high speed, low latency multigigabit and 5G services, including real-time Augmented Reality-powered data sharing for innovations in smart cities, schools, offices, homes, libraries, hospitals, factories, automobiles and more.”

Incompas noted it previously urged adoption of a “straightforward and technology-neutral sharing framework” for the band. The two-phase coordination framework the FCC proposed addresses the “need for simplicity (in order to bring services quickly to market) and flexibility and includes opportunities for parties to resolve disputes over harmful interference if necessary,” Incompas said. The group emphasized that the band can help close the digital divide given the “urgent need to make additional spectrum available for point-to-multipoint fixed wireless services.”

The opening of the lower 37 GHz Band “should not just address interference issues unique to the shared nature of the band but should also ensure that new deployments do not harm existing operations in the Upper 37 GHz Band,” Verizon said. “New rules in the Lower 37 GHz Band that impact licensees in the upper portion of the band may compromise the ability of incumbent licensees to meet existing FCC buildout requirements.”

CTIA urged the FCC “to refrain from changing the adjacent-band protection measures and continue to apply the current measures under Part 30 of its Rules.” Other areas “of ongoing uncertainty should also be more fully examined” before the commission “can proceed with establishing an effective sharing framework that can support innovative new applications by federal and non-federal users and accommodate developments in technology and equipment,” CTIA said.

The lower 37 GHz band is likely an “ideal candidate band for the Commission to start with a clean sheet of paper and explore innovative sharing approaches,” said AT&T. But the carrier warned that the FCC must get the rules right. The agency should incorporate “lessons learned from previous sharing efforts and particularly those involving shared use with Federal incumbents, such as the AWS-3 and 3.45 GHz bands.” AT&T expressed concern “that without open and transparent communication between the parties, the coordination process could be unduly stalled or even stymied.”

The band “will support use cases similar to those in other millimeter wave bands,” Ericsson said. But Ericsson emphasized that NTIA, working with DOD, must “get the framework right to create the certainty of use necessary to spur investment and deployment in the band.” Under the FCC’s proposed rules, 37-37.2 GHz “would be subject to priority use by DOD and military agency departments.”