Vote on FCC Order on Wi-Fi in 5.9 GHz Band Could Slip
An order reshaping how the 5.9 GHz band is allocated could slip from the FCC’s Oct. 27 meeting to the Nov. 18 meeting as the Office of Engineering and Technology works through technical details, industry and agency officials said. The later meeting would be after the election, but Chairman Ajit Pai has broad support for opening the band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use, and approval likely won’t be an issue, officials said. NTIA added a further wrinkle, proposing exclusion zones for the spectrum, in a letter to OET (see 2009090025).
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Commissioners agreed 5-0 in December to examine revised rules for the band, reallocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi. And 20 MHz would be reserved for cellular vehicle to everything and possibly 10 MHz for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC).
The zones would protect federal operations, including DOD, NASA and Department of Energy systems, the letter said. A table proposed areas that would need to be protected. The exclusion zones proposed include a 54 km radius around San Diego, 55 km around Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, near Honolulu, 53 km around Cape Canaveral, Florida, and 98 km around the Kennedy Space Center. A second letter addressed the 3.45-3.55 GHz band, with an item before commissioners for Sept. 30 (see 2009090048). “We value NTIA's input and look forward to continuing to work with our federal partners on these important spectrum projects,” an FCC spokesperson emailed Wednesday.
Chris Szymanski, Broadcom director-product marketing and global government affairs, told us he wouldn’t be surprised if a vote on 5.9 GHz slips to November. “Everything is on OET’s plate,” Szymanski said. “There’s this priority to get 3.45-3.55 done, the TV white spaces,” he said: “They’ve got 5.9 and they’ve got this further notice for 6 GHz.” The NTIA letter is a positive development offering a “compromise or a way forward,” for the FCC to act on 5.9 GHz while still protecting the relatively few federal systems, Szymanski said. “Such a letter would only go out if everyone was convinced that this was moving forward,” he said.
Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, said the FCC hoped for an October vote but it could slip to November.
Wi-Fi advocates said the letter itself clears the way for a vote and was expected due to the need to protect DOD and other federal users. Wi-Fi poses less interference risk than DSRC, which is mobile and operates at higher power levels, they said.
Numerous groups supporting and opposing the changes to the band have been making their case throughout the summer, based on filings in docket 19-138.