FCC OKs 4.9 GHz FNPRM; Carr Concurs on Order

FCC commissioners OK’d a Further NPRM on the future of the 4.9 GHz band 4-0, as expected (see 2109280051), and an order that reverses an order from last year giving control of the spectrum to the states. It also partially lifts a licensing freeze on the band. Commissioner Brendan Carr voted at Thursday's commissioners meeting for the FNPRM but concurred on overturning the original order adopted 3-2 under Republicans over dissents then by now-acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

The FCC has long sought an answer on how to spur use of the band, allocated to public safety in 2002. Questions remain whether the band should be shared with just utilities and other critical infrastructure providers or more broadly. The FCC has issued only about 3,500 licenses to use the spectrum, officials said Thursday. Officials told reporters the FNPRM got only technical changes from the draft.

Carr wants a quick decision. “I am open to working with my colleagues, the public safety community and all other stakeholders on a new framework for this important band of spectrum,” he said. The 2020 decision “was certainly not the only way to ensure that the 4.9 GHz spectrum can be put to good use.”

“From front to back” last year's move “lacked support in the record,” said Rosenworcel. “By breaking the 4.9 GHz band into a patchwork of state leases, it reversed two decades of work to increase interoperability for first responder communications in response to the events of Sept. 11th,” 2001, she said. “It reduced the likelihood we would have consistent and reliable information about what spectrum is available and how it is being used” and took the band away from public safety “when we are facing a devastating pandemic, raging wildfires, seasonal hurricanes and increased use of communications,” she said.

“The item adopted late last year was an abdication of our federal spectrum policymaking responsibility and risked the creation of dozens of inconsistent state-based spectrum regimes with different approaches to critical issues like interoperability, security and interference protection,” Starks said: “In response to the multiple petitions for reconsideration of that decision, not a single party defended the original order.” Starks supports “asking how we might expand use of the band to non-public safety entities, whether through leases, segmenting the band, managed access, or some other form of sharing.”

The FNPRM “explores options to ensure public safety use of the band, including protecting public safety users from harmful interference, collecting more granular licensing data, and adopting technical standards to promote interoperability,” said a release: It seeks “comment on ways to encourage use of new technologies, including 5G, and dynamic spectrum access systems to facilitate coexistence between public safety and non-public safety uses of the band.”

“Though the FCC did not ‘tentatively conclude’ that non-public safety use would be consistent with the public interest today, we pledge our steadfast efforts to work with the Commission and other stakeholders to open this band for commercial use,” emailed Louis Peraertz, Wireless ISP Association vice president-policy: “Limiting the band to critical information industry entities in a severely spectrum-constrained world would keep that spectrum significantly underutilized.”

“The 4.9 GHz band is a critical band for public safety and could provide key support for future 5G public safety deployments,” said Joan Marsh, AT&T executive vice president-federal regulatory relations: “We appreciate the FCC’s focus on avoiding fragmentation and expanding the usefulness of the band for public safety.”