Sharing

In December 2012, the FCC proposed new rules governing how wireless broadband providers can share the airwaves with government users, adopting an innovative model first proposed earlier this year by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in its landmark report, Realizing the Full Potential of Government-Held Spectrum to Spur Economic Growth.

Is spectrum shortage a thing of the past?

The largest user of spectrum, the Department of Defense (DoD), has put out a Request for Information (RFI) that seems to propose that at least some of the spectrum traditionally used by the military could be shared for a fifth generation (5G) wireless network. The DoD cites a component of 5G technology called dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) as the vehicle to accomplish this. This is a milestone. The Defense Department itself is suggesting that it is possible to share spectrum without harming its operations.

Pentagon Opens Door to 5G Network Shared With Civilian Cellphones

US officials are exploring concepts for a new 5G wireless network that would let Silicon Valley giants and other businesses tap valuable Pentagon airwaves, setting up a potential clash over how to deploy the next-generation technology. The Department of Defense issued a request for information that could open the door for investors to bid on contracts to build a domestic cellular network for both the military and for commercial operators.

Spectrum Sharing: An Emerging Success

Spectrum sharing is working, and we now have a larger toolbox of techniques to employ as we move toward repurposing the 3450-3550 MHz band — as well as exploring potential repurposing within 3100-3450 MHz. The current auction of Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service band (CBRS) could not have happened without spectrum sharing in coastal areas where military mobile radars operate. NTIA research

Chairman Response Regarding 900MHz Band to Enable Broadband Report and Order

On May 12, 2020, Reps Randy Weber (R-TX), Brian Babin (R-TX), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Roger Williams (R-TX), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to express concerns about the FCC report and order "Transitioning the 900 MHz BAnd to Enable Broadband Deployment" and its potential impacts on the US' refining and petrochemical industries.

Reps Soto, Flores Introduce LAUNCHES Act to Streamline Space Launch Communications

Reps Darren Soto (D-FL) and Bill Flores (R-TX) introduced the Leveraging American Understanding of Next-generation Challenges Exploring Space (LAUNCHES) Act, a bill that will eliminate unnecessary barriers that hamper the ability of private companies to obtain spectrum licenses required to launch rockets from US soil into space. The legislation:

Technical Feasibility of Sharing Federal Spectrum with Future Commercial Operations in the 3450-3550 MHz Band

As part of an assessment conducted with the Department of Defense, NTIA significant progress in finding potential spectrum sharing options for the 3450-3550 MHz band. Federal operations in the 3450-3550 MHz band include shipborne, airborne, and land-based systems — primarily radars. Our report points to a clear possibility for real time spectrum sharing that would protect these critical missions, while providing attractive opportunities for commercial business.

5G’s rollout is confusing, uneven, and rife with problems

2020 looks like it will be your year to get 5G—but only in the sense of having that signal on your phone, not in the sense of knowing quite what it’s supposed to be or using it to its full potential. A new report from the network analysis firm Opensignal advises that while this revamp of mobile broadband is poised to reach far more of the US, it will do so in ways that may leave both carriers and their customers feeling some wireless whiplash.

Chairman Pai's Response to Reps Dingell, Upton Regarding 5.9 GHz

On Aug 2, 2019, Reps Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Fred Upton (R-MI) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai about a recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the 5.9 GHz band, urging the FCC to take a technology neutral approach to allow for testing of the Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communications platform. 

Utilities, Responders Renew Critique of FCC’s Wi-Fi Sharing Plan

Power companies, first responders and railroads are intensifying criticism of the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to allow Wi-Fi traffic on the 6 GHz band of airwaves they currently use.

TechNet Wades Into 5G Fight Over Defense Bill

Trade group TechNet, which counts AT&T and Verizon among members, is sounding the alarm over language in the Senate defense bill, S. 1790, ordering the Defense Department to create a test-bed program for “innovative technologies and techniques to facilitate” spectrum sharing between 5G service providers and incumbent airwaves occupants. Wireless heavyweights view this language as a Pentagon power grab over 5G and are lobbying to strip it from the bill before the House and Senate settle on a consensus version.