UPDATE In an Eighth Report and Order (R&O), FCC says it takes another step towards ensuring that the 4.9 GHz band (4940–4990 MHz) is efficiently and intensely used in support of public safety missions nationwide. To that end, it’s now bolstering the coordinated nationwide approach to the band that the Commission established in its Seventh Report and Order.
That’s when it adopted a nationwide band manager framework to coordinate operations in the 4.9 GHz band, optimize public safety use, and facilitate the integration of the latest commercially available technologies, including 5G, for the benefit of public safety users. “To further these goals—and ensure that the 4.9 GHz band is put to more robust use, once selected, the 4.9 GHz band manager will be eligible to apply for a nationwide overlay license and authorized to enter into a sharing agreement with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet),” states the agency in the R&O.
AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO John Stankey had lobbied FCC Commissioners for FirstNet gaining control of a portion of the 4.9 GHz band. The action is controversial since AT&T built FirstNet and can use the band. 4.9 GHz users are concerned the carrier could control the band for its own interests, Inside Towers reported.
The 4-0 decision would seem to be a blow to T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS), UScellular (NYSE: USM), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), and the Competitive Carriers Association. They formed a coalition to persuade the FCC to give public safety users direct access to the band, instead of routing the band through FirstNet, Inside Towers reported. The Major Cities Chiefs Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Edison Electric Institute are also members of the new Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure.
As part of this sharing agreement in the eighth R&O, FirstNet may be permitted to use unassigned spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band as part of its nationwide public safety broadband network in a way that protects incumbent operations. The latest change also expands the band manager’s responsibilities to include entering into a sharing agreement with FirstNet and establishing rules governing the nationwide band manager overlay license. The agency also clarifies the band manager’s responsibilities to address the new rules.
There are 3,676 licenses currently issued in the band, according to the Commission. This includes over 130 statewide area licenses, over 1,100 countywide area licenses, and over 2,400 other licenses, either geographic area licenses, other types of geographic licenses (such as for a group of counties, a city, or parts of one or more cities), or for fixed sites. Most of the United States and U.S. territories are covered by at least one statewide license.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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