FCC Seeks Comment on Spectrum for Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission seek comment on the steps it can take to best promote wireless broadband deployment in the 1695-1710 MHz and 3550 3650 MHz bands recently identified by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for accommodating wireless broadband.

The FCC also seeks input to inform ongoing assessment of several additional bands NTIA has identified for potential deployment of wireless broadband. These bands include the 1755 1850 MHz, 4200 4220 MHz and 4380-4400 MHz bands, and others identified by NTIA as candidates for commercial use.
The seek specific comment on whether and to what extent these bands could be made available for broadband deployment.

The FCC is particularly interested in comments on the following issues:

• How do the technical assumptions upon which NTIA based its analyses affect how broadband services could be deployed in each band?
• How do the conditions placed on the bands (e.g., exclusion zones) affect their usefulness for broadband deployment?
• What types of broadband technologies could be deployed in these bands and is equipment readily available? Does this equipment meet the technical assumptions in NTIA's analyses? If not, how would the use of different technologies affect the availability of each band for broadband use?
• Will future broadband services require paired spectrum bands and, if so, what are the most suitable band pairings for the spectrum identified by NTIA? If the spectrum identified by NTIA is not paired, what broadband technologies might be deployed?
• Could broadband services share use of each band with Federal users and what techniques would be most effective for sharing (e.g., coordination in time, geography, or policy, and / or the use of cognitive technologies)? If sharing would not be feasible, what process should be used to relocate or phase out incumbent users (both Federal and non-Federal) and what are candidate relocation frequency bands?

(ET Docket No. 10-123)