The FCC’s final order allowing unlicensed devices to share 1,200 MHz of 6 GHz spectrum has many changes from the draft. They go beyond additional questions mentioned by commissioners voting 5-0 Thursday (see 2004230059), based on our side-by-side analysis. A section on formation of a multistakeholder group to address technical and operational issues with the automated frequency control (AFC) system was moved within the order. Most changes are technical and don’t address concerns raised by 6 GHz incumbents. The item, released Friday, is 26 paragraphs and 11 pages longer than the draft.

Commissioners approved an order 5-0 Thursday allocating 1,200 MHz for sharing with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band. The unanimous vote was expected (see 2004170057), as was the approval of a number of tweaks sought by FCC members. Commissioners said they had no worries that allowing very low-power (VLP) devices without automated frequency control throughout the band will be harmful to incumbents. A Further NPRM now seeks comment on the portable use of standard-power devices. NAB, AT&T and others raised concerns.

The 1 dB standard for determining harmful interference to GPS, pushed by the GPS industry and others opposed to Ligado's planned low-power terrestrial L-band network plans, doesn't assess harmful interference and isn't directly correlated with it, the FCC said in its 74-page Ligado order adopted Sunday (see 2004200011) and released Wednesday.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., endorsed the FCC’s proposed order and Further NPRM to allow unlicensed sharing throughout the 6 GHz band. Commissioners are expected to unanimously approve the items Thursday largely as proposed (see 2004170057). “It is even more important” amid the COVID-19 pandemic “that additional spectrum be allocated for unlicensed use,” McNerney said Wednesday. “I am pleased to see that consistent with what I have called for in the past (see 2002120055), Chairman [Ajit] Pai is moving forward with making all 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use while also taking steps to protect incumbent users operating in the band from harmful interference.”

The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee’s Spectrum Strategy Governance Subcommittee plans to release this summer a report on potential major changes to federal oversight of spectrum (see 2001270046), members said Wednesday. One focus remains combining the FCC and NTIA. The meeting was delayed 30-plus minutes as members struggled to get online during the group’s first meeting in the COVID-19 era.

Commissioners are expected Thursday to approve 5-0 an order and Further NPRM allowing unlicensed sharing throughout 6 GHz, FCC and industry officials said in interviews last week. A few tweaks are anticipated, but no material changes, despite widespread concerns raised by many groups about harmful interference from indoor devices that don’t use automated frequency control (AFC). Chairman Ajit Pai said agency engineers fully vetted the technology and believe sharing doesn’t pose a risk to the huge number of incumbents across the 1,200 megahertz (see 2004060062).

The FCC’s April 23 meeting will be via teleconference and in a shortened format due to COVID-19, the agency said in a sunshine notice Thursday. As expected (see 2004150057), some major items will be voted during the meeting while the rest will be voted on circulation ahead of the meeting, the notice said. Commissioners will vote during the meeting on the 6 GHz rules and Further NPRM, the 5G rural USF fund and the orbital debris item. For the March meeting, some items were voted on the day before the meeting and others that morning, FCC officials said. In March, the agency prior to the meeting issued a deletion notice on the voted items.

Meetings continued on sharing the 6 GHz band with Wi-Fi, a week before a commissioner vote on an order and Further NPRM. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spoke with National Spectrum Management Association officials this week about their concerns, said a filing posted in docket 18-295. The filing was among more than a dozen that popped up Thursday as parties made closing arguments.

The April 23 commissioners’ meeting will be teleconferenced and possibly shortened in a manner similar to the March meeting, FCC officials told us. Though eighth-floor offices are discussing the final format, Chairman Ajit Pai's office proposed again voting on many of the items ahead of the meeting (see 2003310067), but having in-meeting votes and commissioner statements on major ones such as 6 GHz, officials said. One FCC official said commissioners are preparing full statements on all the major items. When the FCC changed the format for the March meeting, Chief of Staff Matthew Berry was in touch with the offices weeks in advance to discuss what to expect. A few days before that meeting, the chairman’s office said in an email to other offices the plan was to keep the session very short, the official said. Discussions over the format of the April meeting are in progress, several officials said. The commission didn't comment Wednesday.

CTIA is hinting at a legal challenge to FCC rules, set for a vote April 23 (see 2004060062), allowing low-power devices throughout the 6 GHz band without automated frequency control. Reliance on restrictions in the draft rules “as a basis to conclude that an AFC-free regime will protect licensees from harmful interference would be arbitrary and capricious under well-established standards,” CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. The group questions the studies and assumptions the FCC makes on the interference risk.