CTA, Other Tech Groups Back 6 GHz Changes Incumbents Want Paused

“VLP devices will enable new and exciting consumer use cases, from mobile augmented and virtual reality applications, Ultra-High Definition video streaming, accessibility solutions, advanced mobile peripherals and high-speed tethering,” CTA said. Success isn’t a “foregone conclusion,” it suggested: “Adopt power levels that would comport with user expectations for anticipated" uses.

APCO, which sought reconsideration of the rules, said: “The current approach to expanding unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band introduces a substantial threat to public safety. Further expanding unlicensed use, and loosening restrictions as contemplated in the FNPRM, would be irresponsible.” Public safety uses the band for dispatching first responders and voice communications, APCO said.

Don’t take “further steps to expand unlicensed operations at the direct expense of licensed users before the shaky assumptions underlying the Commission’s authorization of use across the band have been validated" by deployments, NAB said. Broadcasters rely on the swath to deliver content from studios to transmitter sites, mobile transmissions from newsgathering trucks and onsite transmissions from portable cameras and mics, it said: COVID-19 "demonstrates how critical this spectrum is to news coverage."

CTIA opposed expanding unlicensed operations without automated frequency control (AFC). VLP devices can already use other unlicensed spectrum, including the 57-71 GHz band, the group said. “Unlicensed proponents have not made the case for using the 6 GHz band -- at great risk to incumbent operators -- for the short-range, high-speed use cases envisioned,” CTIA said. Consider higher power levels for “standard-power operations and, in the future, mobile capability” but only with “robust AFC,” CTIA recommended.

Electric utilities opposed further action. First “gain real-world experience with the rules recently established,” the Edison Electric Institute warned. “Factors like Building Entry Loss and clutter loss for VLP devices do not mean that such devices may operate at a higher power level without resulting in harmful interference to incumbent microwave receivers,” EEI said: “Nor will body loss and transmit power control for VLP devices adequately protect incumbent microwave receivers.” The Utilities Technology Council, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Gas Association and American Water Works Association jointly opposed moving forward on the FNPRM.

Duke Energy uses more than 200 licensed 6 GHz microwave paths, it said. “It is premature to move forward with these proposals and we continue to have significant concerns that opening the 6 GHz band to unlicensed operations will threaten the integrity of mission-critical communications networks,” Duke said. “There is simply not enough empirical engineering data to determine whether and how the FNPRM’s proposals could safely coexist with licensed microwave systems,” said Alliant Energy.

Tech companies back the proposals. “Permitting portable VLP operations” at proposed power levels “will support a host of immersive, real-time applications in healthcare and education, dynamic and innovative gaming experiences, and augmented-reality/virtual-reality devices, among other uses,” said Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and others. “Authorizing portable devices at 14 dBm [effective isotropic radiated power] will allow the U.S. to maintain its leadership in the 6 GHz band as portable device authorization progresses" worldwide, they said.

The record shows the proposals can be approved without a risk of harmful interference to incumbents, Qualcomm said. “New robust wireless connectivity will bring our members innovations into the hands of American consumers, enabling growth and job creation,” said ACT|The App Association. The group supported the proposals in the FNPRM and said the rest of the rules should take effect “as soon as practicable.”