Secretary Pritzker, Secretary Foxx and Chairman Wheeler Response Regarding Spectrum Resources

On Sept 9, 2015, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote to Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler regarding maximizing spectrum resources, promoting private sector deployment, and improving vehicle safety. Specifically, they called upon the FCC, DOT, and the Commerce Department to work together to test and model the 5.9 GHz band to be used to develop Dedicated Short Rang Communications (DSRC) technology, vehicle safety testing, and DSRC capabilities testing.

Sec Pritzker, Sec Foxx, and Chairman Wheeler responded by describing the testing plan the three agencies will be implementing. They wrote, "The FCC will begin by refreshing the record of its pending 5.9 GHz rulemaking proceeding to provide interested stakeholders the opportunity to provide further comment on sharing in the band as well as the opportunity to comment on the proposed FCC test plan. The FCC will also solicit the submittal of prototype unlicensed, interference-avoiding devices for testing." They continued, "Engineers from each agency will carefully examine the options and mechanisms for sharing in the 5.9 GHz band and closely scrutinize the myriad interference prevention approaches."