Spectrum

To meet the booming demand for mobile broadband that was being fueled by the smartphone revolution, Congress empowered the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a first-of-its-kind, two-sided auction that would allow spectrum used for broadcast TV to be repurposed for wireless services. In April 2017, we closed the bidding in the incentive auction, which yielded $19.8 billion in revenue. Roughly $10 billion went to broadcasters as incentive payments for giving up their spectrum.

Twenty years ago, policymakers set aside the 5.9 GHz band of frequencies specifically for auto safety and vehicle-to-vehicle radio communications. Unfortunately, the band remains almost completely unused. While Wi-Fi is saturating the band immediately below 5.9 GHz and generating hundreds of billions of dollars in consumer welfare annually, the set-aside of 5.9 GHz for a specific auto industry use case and technology has proven an abject failure.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is angering a lot of powerful people as his chairmanship hits its fourth and potentially final year. The Pentagon, the Commerce Department and the Department of Transportation. Electric utilities, airlines and the auto industry. Public safety officials and weather forecasters. Top lawmakers of both parties, including Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) an ally of President Donald Trump’s who controls the FCC’s purse strings on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sprint’s legacy 5G service using 2.5 GHz has been deactivated as T-Mobile continues work to reconfigure, test, and re-deploy the coveted mid-band spectrum into its new integrated 5G network. Sprint’s 5G service is no longer available, except to customers who have a Galaxy S20 5G that works on T-Mobile’s 5G network. The 2.5 GHz Sprint network deactivations, while necessary, do present a change for some legacy Sprint 5G users. Namely, it's those who were early adopters and purchased first-generation 5G smartphones from the carrier, including a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, LG V50 ThinQ, or OnePlus 7

After the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recent report about the Federal Communications Commission’s inadequate strategic planning to deploy 5G mobile communications networks nationwide, Sen Michael Bennet (D-CO) wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai with some concerns. Sen Bennet asked for answers to the following questions by July 31, 2020:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai sent letters to 38 senators on June 23, 2020, in response to their letter that asked the FCC to extend the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Window by 180 days in light of the pandemic. Chairman Pai noted the FCC granted four emergency short-term grants of special temporary authority in the 700 MHz and 2.5 GHz bands to support the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo, and Makah Tribe communications and pandemic response efforts. And Chairman Pai said the FCC has yet to make a decision on whether to extend the August 3, 2020 application window deadline.

As the latest generation of mobile communications, 5G networks are expected to provide faster connections to support consumer, industry, and public sector services. While private sector carriers deploy 5G networks, the Federal Communications Commission has a role in managing deployment challenges, such as how to allocate low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum for 5G use. The US Government Accountability Office was asked to review 5G deployment challenges.

I commend the US-India Business Council (USIBC) for launching this Webinar series on 5G. I’ve been asked to begin with an update on the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to promote the development and deployment of 5G. This is something we’ve spent quite some time on, to say the least. We call our strategy the 5G FAST plan, and it has three key components: freeing up spectrum, promoting wireless infrastructure, and modernizing regulations to encourage fiber deployment.

On June 4, eight senators wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai about Ligado's spectrum license. The senators asked for answers to 13 questions about the FCC's decision to modify technical aspects of Ligado's license. On June 12, Chairman Pai answered the questions. 

On May 5, Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai about the C-band auction, urging the FCC to institute a "Buy American" request to all satellite operators. On June 15, Chairman Pai wrote that the five eligible space station operators are required to file their Transition Plans for FCC review by June 19. These plans should provide detailed information on the specific aspects of the planned transitions for each operator, including plans to manufacture, procure, and launch new satellites.