The crack electrical engineers and spectrum policy experts elected to Congress are thinking about telling the FCC what it should be doing about authorizing unlicensed operation in the 5.85-5.295 GHz band.… Continue Reading
The problem, of course, is that both of the proposed new bands are occupied: military and other government radars, weather radars, NASA systems, unmanned aircraft, satellite observations, border surveillance, automatic vehicle communications, and a secondary amateur band. It will be a challenge to protect all of these while leaving enough technical elbow room for the new bands to be useful.… Continue Reading
Public safety users have to vacate the T-band by 2021 for a spectrum auction by 2023. The auction revenue is supposed to be made available to current public safety licensees to help offset the cost of relocating their systems to other frequencies.… Continue Reading
The FCC's licensing and coordination procedures have evolved over the decades in response to technical and economic realities. Those procedures are working well. We hope Congress gets the message and leaves them alone.… Continue Reading
An overview of the FCC's proposed approach to spectrum-clearing/spectrum-repopulating incentive auctions and some of the myriad factors at play in that process.… Continue Reading
In a rare move, the FCC will allow parties to submit information without also posting it in the docket. But be careful: information sent to the FCC remains subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.… Continue Reading
It doesn't do a lot of good to send an ambulance to a university campus if you don't know where on the campus to look for the patient.… Continue Reading
The urge to free up as much TV spectrum as possible for broadband use has now driven the Commission's Video Division to reach into the grave to take a couple of Class A authorizations back from a dead guy.… Continue Reading
From the FCC's perspective, the chore of repacking existing TV stations would probably be much easier if Class A stations could be downgraded to LPTV status. Where there's a will, there's a way: the downgrading effort has begun.… Continue Reading
It's official! President Obama has signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 into law, clearing the way for an elaborate incentive auction process intended to free up spectrum (including TV spectrum) for mobile broadband.… Continue Reading
Buried in the payroll tax cut extension law passed by Congress last week is a little-noticed section requiring state and local governments to approve modifications of wireless towers and base stations -- as long as the modifications don't substantially change the dimensions of the existing structures.… Continue Reading
With passage of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act, incentive auctions for spectrum repurposing have taken a great leap forward.… Continue Reading
