Pai Proposes to Segment 5.9 GHz Band, Allocate Most for Wi-Fi

Pai said in a speech at a WifiForward event he will propose that the lower 45 MHz of the 75 MHz chunk of spectrum be set aside for Wi-Fi. Pai will propose that 20 MHz go to cellular vehicle-to-everything technology and seek comment on assigning the remaining 10 MHz to C-V2X or DSRC.

DOT has been forcefully advocating preserving the band for DSRC (see 1909160018). Pai was expected to circulate a Further NPRM in May but pulled it after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao objected (see 1906180072).

FCC officials said the proposal changed significantly in response to discussions with DOT. DOT objected particularly to reallocating the entire band for sharing with unlicensed and the revised proposal preserves spectrum for C-V2X and potentially DSRC, officials said.

DOT “has clearly stated in testimony and correspondence that the 75 MHz allocated in the 5.9 GHz, what we call the ‘Safety Band,’ must be preserved for transportation safety purposes,” a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesperson emailed. “The Department’s multimodal guidance document, Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0, clearly foresees the need for protecting this spectrum allocation to enable the future of safe, highly automated surface transportation. This continues to be the Department’s position."

Safety Concerns

DSRC advocates are also fighting the change. “In a country that reels from nearly 36,000 roadway deaths every year, it is unfathomable that the United States would literally give away our top safety tool -- and with it, our best chance to save tens of thousands of lives,” ITS America President Shailen Bhatt said, responding to Pai. “The FCC is prepared to trade safer roads for more connectivity.”

The adjacent 5.725-5.850 GHz band is “currently available for unlicensed operations, making this 45 MHz sub-band ideally suited for unlicensed use,” Pai said at the event. “Having more contiguous spectrum here is essential for the larger channels needed to support innovative use cases.”

Pai stressed that DSRC has never taken off, though the 5.9 GHz spectrum was allocated 20 years ago. “It’s not widely deployed,” he said: “In the meantime, a wave of new transportation communication technologies has emerged. As a result, a lot of people are wondering whether this valuable spectrum, a public resource, is really being put to its best use. … It clearly is not.” The FCC said it was pulling the plug on further testing of sharing between DSRC and Wi-Fi.

“We need more Wi-Fi,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Wi-Fi is where we innovate and how we connect our lives. … Opening this band for Wi-Fi could add up to $100 billion to our economy. This is long overdue.”

Band Segmentation

The current FCC could end up doing more for Wi-Fi than any FCC in history, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, on a panel after Pai’s speech. Most consumers don’t realize up to 80 percent of their mobile device data traffic today travels on Wi-Fi and never touches the mobile network, he said. “This isn’t sharing between autos and Wi-Fi, this is band segmentation,” he said.

Segmenting the band is a "win-win for consumers," Calabrese told us: "Both auto safety and faster, more affordable Wi-Fi are very important to consumers and the economy. This proposal can almost immediately add a new GB-fast Wi-Fi channel so that schools, libraries, homes and businesses of every kind will have enough bandwidth to support next-generation Wi-Fi technologies.”

DSRC won’t work because it requires all vehicles to have the same technology, said Deborah Collier, Citizens Against Government Waste director-technology and telecommunications policy. Panelists were concerned DOT will again intervene to slow progress on final rules.

“Extensive crash avoidance testing continues to demonstrate that C-V2X technology will deliver safety benefits to the American public,” the 5G Automotive Association said: “We look forward to working with all stakeholders throughout this process to ensure that spectrum regulations adequately address the needs of transportation safety.”

“Unlicensed use of the 5.9 GHz band would allow for the expansion of Wi-Fi 6, a crucial component to the expansion of 5G,” Bertram Lee, Public Knowledge policy counsel, told us: “Consumers will benefit as new products develop to take advantage of the expanded bandwidth the 5.9GHz band would provide. This decision would also benefit communities of color and those who are hurt by the digital divide.”

NCTA, Comcast and Charter applauded the Pai speech. “The traffic lanes that allow Wi-Fi to travel have become much more congested and could soon be more clogged than the Washington beltway during rush hour,” NCTA said: “It's critical that policymakers pursue a balanced spectrum policy that makes more spectrum available for both licensed and unlicensed uses.”

Pai will also seek a vote on a second-mid-band item at the December meeting, on commercial use of the 3.1-3.55 GHz band. DOD “operates high-powered radar systems in this band, with some non-federal users offering radiolocation services on a secondary basis,” Pai blogged. “To prepare the upper portion of the band for potential shared use between commercial wireless services and federal incumbents, I'm proposing to remove the existing non-federal secondary radiolocation and amateur allocations in the 3.3-3.55 GHz band and relocate those services to the 3.1-3.3 GHz portion of the band or other frequencies.” Pai laid out a busy agenda for the December meeting (see 1911200039).

“Clearing this upper portion of the band of existing non-federal operations could help us make as much as 250 megahertz of spectrum available for advanced wireless services,” Pai said: “This would promote the development and deployment of 5G services across the country and advance American leadership in this next generation of wireless connectivity.”