FCC Agrees 5-0 to Explore New Rules for 5.9 GHz Band; Few Changes From Draft

None of the FCC officials mentioned a Transportation Department redline proposed edit of the draft notice (see 1912110056). Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said the FCC made no major changes to the draft and DOT concerns were addressed. The DOT letter wasn’t made part of the public record because it came as part of the interagency consultation process, he said.

“We had consulted with the staff of [DOT] and made some revisions to the draft, but the substance is still the same,” Knapp told us in reporter Q&A. The FCC did add questions to the final NPRM, he said. The DOT letter wasn’t unusual, he said. Knapp was widely praised at the meeting, his last before he retires. Other retirements also were announced (see personals section).

The Auto Alliance and Global Automakers slammed the NPRM in a joint statement. “The pending action by the FCC risks lives, slows innovation and runs counter to what the Commission has heard from safety and technical experts,” the groups said: “The FCC must consider the significant investment of public and private dollars in V2X deployments and the adverse economic and safety consequences of reallocating the 5.9 GHz safety spectrum to unlicensed technologies.” Other bands, including 6 GHz, are being made available for unlicensed, they said.

“We have done a lot to address [DOT] concerns,” Pai told reporters. “Over the past several months, in discussion with the department … we refined our proposal.” The FCC proposes a “balanced approach,” he said: “We recognize there are multiple interests here.”

Pai’s proposal was “nearly identical” to one he discussed years ago and is “consistent with one of the competing industry proposals at the time,” said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. “It still is the most logical path forward for this band. In particular, it effectively solves the interference issue by splitting the band into two, preserving an exclusive portion dedicated to automobile safety.” O'Rielly's very happy the FCC moved forward on the band.

“Our bet on DSRC didn’t pan out the way we thought it would,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, noting only a few thousand vehicles have the technology. The National Transportation Safety Board says it will be up to 30 years before the majority of vehicles have DSRC, she noted. “Fifty years from spectrum start to finish is a long time. I don’t know about you, but in 50 years I’m hoping we will have flying cars.”

Wi-Fi is too congested, with more than 9 billion enabled devices in use, Rosenworcel said. “Billions and billions of more devices are coming our way” with the IoT, she said. “We know that as much as 70 percent of 5G traffic will be offloaded to Wi-Fi.”

Unlicensed spectrum is critical to 5G, said Commissioner Brendan Carr. “I am proud of the commission for getting ahead of this problem,” Carr said. “We now have 580 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the 5 GHz band. And the commission actively is looking at 1,200 MHz in the 6 and lower 7 GHz bands as candidates for more unlicensed uses.”

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said better Wi-Fi is important for solving the digital divide, and the NPRM comes at a critical time. “The problem of internet inequality is resulting in significantly different opportunities, in terms of employment, education, civic engagement, for those with high-speed internet service versus those without. The new unlicensed spectrum that we propose to make available today can play a role in connecting people in those unserved communities.”

House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., pressed Pai ahead of the FCC vote to explain “your rationale for this proposal” given the implications of allocating “a majority of the [5.9 GHz] band to unlicensed [Wi-Fi] while constricting the spectrum available to life-saving transportation safety applications.” Uncertainty “about the future of this band has, for years, undercut the auto sector’s ability to make investment decisions,” Dingell wrote Pai. “We can all agree the band requires a fresh approach but one that is designed to unlock -- rather than hinder -- transportation safety applications that will benefit human health, safety, the environment and economy. Dingell also cited Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s objections (see 1906180072).

“As we continue to invest in and increase the performance of our gigabit broadband networks, the FCC’s decision to make the 5.9 GHz band available expeditiously will ensure that the Wi-Fi capacity our customers rely on will continue to match the capabilities of our world-class broadband networks,” said Tony Werner, Comcast Cable president-technology and product, Xperience. “By making a portion of this highly-valuable band available for unlicensed use after decades of under-utilization, today’s action sets the stage for innovations like ultra-fast, high capacity, multigigabit WiFi that will power connected classrooms, smart homes and remote healthcare,” said Charter Communications.