The FCC released its comprehensive 5G strategy, “Facilitate America’s Superiority in 5G Technology (FAST) Plan,” in September of 2018.[1] The plan focuses on three main goals: pushing more spectrum into the marketplace, updating infrastructure policy, and modernizing outdated regulations to facilitate 5G in the United States. With regard to the spectrum goal, the FCC plans to hold three more auctions in 2019 to sell bands of mmWave spectrum, and is conducting research to understand options for opening up low- and mid-band spectrum. With regard to the infrastructure goal, the FCC is working to increase the speed of review for small cells at the federal, state, and local levels to facilitate faster fielding of 5G. With regard to the modernization goal, the FCC is focused on adjusting existing regulations and making new ones to support 5G deployment, such as updating its rules on network equipment to allow for more rapid cell fielding and preventing the sale of network equipment from companies that pose a national security threat to U.S. networks.
The FCC has also started a proceeding to enable more flexible use of the 500 MHz of C-band downlink spectrum, which is positioned in the middle of the 3 and 4 GHz bands.[2] In 2015 at ITU’s World Radio Conference, the Obama administration opposed the proposal to reclassify this band as an IMT-2000 allocation suitable for 5G use, which would have paved the way for global standardization of this spectrum for 5G mobility services. Even if the spectrum was reclassified as broadband, it would take some time before existing users could be completely removed from the C band. Sharing the band for 5G mobility use is difficult because mobile handsets emit radio energy in a broad pattern, and numbers of users operating near C band antenna could materially cause interference to satellite reception. However, fixed operations could share the spectrum through the use of highly directional antennas or beamforming systems, and this type of equipment would be ideal for providing fixed services to rural areas, as well as possible DoD uses for fixed network extensions.
If the United States were to aggressively pursue sharing and eventual reallocation of the C-band downlink spectrum, it could allow a second round of 5G spectrum expansion that could give the United States a boost in speed and coverage. However, the benefits of this spectrum reallocation would depend on global companies building their devices to operate within C-band, and the United States would need to push for acceptance of that part of the spectrum as a globally utilized band.
Public Sector: Department of Commerce
The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) manages federal-use spectrum allocation. The Department of Commerce is currently developing a “National Spectrum Strategy” to improve spectrum management, identify research and development priorities to create new technologies, and aggregate federal agencies’ spectrum operational needs.[3] NTIA will work with members of a new Spectrum Strategy Task Force (established by the Presidential memo) in a multiyear effort to develop and implement this
- ↑ “The FCC’s FAST Plan,” FCC, accessed March 20, 2019, https://www.fcc.gov/5G.
- ↑ “FCC Expands Flexible Use of Mid-band Spectrum,” FCC, July 13, 2018, https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-expands-flexible-use-mid-band-spectrum.
- ↑ Neidig, “White House orders Commerce to develop 5G strategy.”
