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Commissioners to vote on high-band spectrum proposal in July; Wheeler says U.S. will not wait for standards.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler this week talked up the role of the U.S. in the development of the fifth generation of mobile technology and proposed new rules designed to free up more spectrum for 5G.
FCC commissioners will vote on the proposal on 14 July, Wheeler said in a speech delivered to the National Press Club on Monday, and reproduced on the U.S. regulator’s Website.
"5G is a national priority," Wheeler said, having waxed lyrical about the possible applications for high-bandwidth, low-latency mobile, touching on healthcare, education, connected cars, smart energy and other areas.
"This Thursday, I am circulating to my colleagues proposed new rules that will identify and open up vast amounts of spectrum for 5G applications," Wheeler said.
Operators have the opportunity to gain more low-band spectrum suited for wide-area coverage at the ongoing incentive auction that will free up frequencies in the 600 MHz band. Meanwhile, the FCC has put rules in place for spectrum-sharing in the 3.5 MHz band and is looking for other opportunities in the mid-band.
But the focus of next month’s vote is on high-band spectrum. According to Wheeler, the proposal he has circulated to his colleagues will make the U.S. the first country in the world to open up high-band spectrum for 5G.
"Unlike some countries, we do not believe we should spend the next couple of years studying what 5G should be, how it should operate, and how to allocate spectrum, based on those assumptions," Wheeler said.
"Turning innovators loose is far preferable to expecting committees and regulators to define the future," he insisted. "We won’t wait for the standards to be first developed in the sometimes arduous standards-setting process or in a government-led activity. Instead, we will make ample spectrum available and then rely on a private sector-led process for producing technical standards best suited for those frequencies and use cases."
Technological advances mean that high-band, millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum can be used in 5G rollouts in dense urban areas served by sizeable numbers of small cells.
Use of high-band frequencies means bigger blocks of spectrum will be available, Wheeler said. Rather than blocks of 5 MHz and 10 MHz that are currently licensed to mobile operators, with 5G "we are looking at blocks of at least 200 MHz in width," he explained. "This will allow networks to carry much more traffic per user – gigabits of throughput instead of megabits."
Wheeler also noted that commissioners will consider unlicensed spectrum, which he said will play a "critical role" in 5G.
He proposes the creation of a 14-GHz band of unlicensed spectrum with flexible usage rules.
Spectrum-sharing is also on the agenda for Wheeler, as are planning rules that will govern the positioning of small cell antennas, and the importance of backhaul.
