Enterprise Wireless Insider, Volume 14, Issue 8

Construction Deadlines

It is not anticipated that the FCC will be issuing any further blanket relief from construction deadlines, and licensees with deadlines on May 16 and later are expected to meet their construction requirements or else seek a waiver. EWA understands that to the extent licensees seek a waiver, they must do so on FCC Form 601 preferably utilizing e-filing via ULS and address the waiver prongs of 1.925 or the extension standard in 1.946.  The FCC will not be able to act in response to informal filings, including emails or formal filings that contain no justification or merely mention “COVID”.  The FCC will be conducting individualized reviews of each and every filing, relying on the fact-specific circumstances described within, and returning filings for additional information where necessary.  

These processes are fair and reasonable, and the WTB licensing staff as well as the FCC’s call center are fully aware of these licensee requirements. You may also contact EWA if you have any questions or need assistance.

Broadband/Narrowband at 900 MHz

• Realign the 900 MHz band to make available six megahertz of spectrum for broadband operations, while reserving the band’s remaining four megahertz for continued narrowband operations. 
• Establish a transition mechanism, based primarily on negotiations between prospective broadband licensees and narrowband incumbents, that enables these prospective broadband licensees to relocate, acquire, or protect existing incumbents in the new broadband segment. 
• Permit a 900 MHz broadband licensee (after license grant) to relocate mandatorily a small number of incumbents—except those with complex systems—from the new broadband segment to the narrowband segment by providing comparable facilities. 
• Require a broadband applicant to make an anti-windfall payment whenever it relinquishes less than six megahertz of spectrum in exchange for a six-megahertz broadband license. 
• Address license application requirements, transition procedures, and operating and technical rules applicable to the new 900 MHz broadband license. 

• Deny EWA’s petition for rulemaking, which requested that the Commission designate part of the 800 MHz guard band for relocation of 900 MHz narrowband channels. 
• Lift the freeze on 900 MHz applications so that existing licensees can relocate their narrowband operations within the narrowband segment. (WT 17-200)

6 GHz Rules Adopted

• The 6 GHz band is currently populated by microwave services that are used to support utilities, public safety, and wireless backhaul. Unlicensed devices will share this spectrum with incumbent licensed services under rules designed by the FCC that are intended protect all operations.
• The Report and Order authorizes indoor low-power operations over the full 1,200 megahertz and standard-power devices in 850 megahertz in the 6 GHz band. An automated frequency coordination system will be initiated with the intended purpose of preventing standard power access points from operating where they may cause interference to incumbent services.

• The Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on a proposal to permit very low power devices to operate across the 6 GHz band to support high data rate applications including high-performance, wearable, augmented-reality and virtual-reality devices. The notice also seeks comment on increasing the power at which low-power indoor access points may operate.  (ET 18-295; FCC 20-51)

FCC Extends Electronic Filing Capabilities

On April 29, the FCC released a Public Notice (PN) announcing they now may accept electronic filings for Special Temporary Authority applications in certain market-based services; sublease applications; and, multi-step transactions. These applications continue to not be accepted in the ULS, but the PN provides detailed filing instructions to alleviate the manual burden the industry has experienced for years. 

FCC Approves Waivers for Health Monitoring

On April 30, the FCC adopted two Orders greenlighting use of wireless spectrum for health monitoring. They first adopted an Order on Reconsideration granting TerreStar a conditional waiver to allow it to deploy wireless medical telemetry service operations at 1.4 GHz, a reversal of the Commission’s denial of TerreStar’s request in 2017. In reaching its new determination, the FCC evaluated “new information regarding the interference potential to the wireless medical telemetry service (WMTS) and the need for additional WMTS spectrum for the benefit of public health and safety, as well as the recent commitment of TerreStar to ‘provide spectrum capacity and frequency planning and coordination services, free of charge, outside of registered WMTS healthcare facilities in support of any future national public health emergency declared by the U.S. Department Health and Human Services.”

The FCC also granted a request by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for a waiver of Sections 15.31(c), 15.503(d), and 15.521(d) of the Commission’s Part 15 rules to permit the certification and marketing of indoor health monitoring devices that it calls the WiTrack system, a wall-mounted system that provides non-invasive health and safety monitoring for patients and senior adults. A WiTrack device is designed to measure physiological characteristics such as gait, breathing, heart rate, and sleep, and facilitates the detection of potentially life-threatening events, such as falls.