Chairman Pai's Remarks on New 5.9 GHz Band Proposal

After 20 years of seeing these prime airwaves [in the 5.9 GHz band] go largely unused, the time has come for the FCC to take a fresh look at the 5.9 GHz band. And I’m pleased to announce that today, I shared with my FCC colleagues a proposal to end the uncertainty around the 5.9 GHz band and set a path for the deployment of new services. Specifically, I’m proposing to make available the lower 45 MHz of the band for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi and allocate the upper 20 MHz for a new automotive communications technology, Cellular Vehicle to Everything, or C-V2X. I’m also proposing that we seek public input on whether to allocate the remaining 10 MHz in the band to C-V2X or DSRC. The FCC will vote on this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at our Dec 12 meeting.