The FCC Is Poised to Achieve a Major Milestone Advancing 5G Wireless Services
by
Gregory J. Vogt *
[Below is the Introduction and Summary to this latest FSF Perspectives. A PDF version of the complete Perspectives is here.]
Introduction and Summary
Summer in Washington, D.C. in a presidential election year can be a slow time, at least with regard to communications policy. But this summer is an exception. For instance, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler has scheduled a Commission vote to allocate so-called millimeter wave or high band spectrum for 5G wireless. If actually adopted, the item would be an important milestone in the United States' efforts to plan for and implement 5G services, which is expected to be offered as early as 2020.
Chairman Wheeler decided to propose proceeding to an allocation of additional spectrum without further study on how 5G is to be deployed in the U.S. This is a wise market-oriented decision that is somewhat uncharacteristic of the current Administration and FCC. So, it is a decision to be heartily applauded. The FCC should be cautious, however, that its efforts are not undermined by (1) failing to move rapidly to an auction and actual deployment; (2) maintaining unworkable spectrum sharing arrangements; or (3) manipulating the auction procedures or spectrum screens that skew competition.
CTIA President Meredith Baker in June identified the many varied benefits that 5G wireless can provide to the nation. CTIA has indicated that 5G wireless networks can speed up mobile broadband, increase capacity for billions of new Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and reduce latency, or the time it takes for Internet messages to be received and responded to. Given the exploding consumer demand for wireless capacity documented in the body of this paper, CTIA appears to be correct that it is urgent for our government to begin the process of finding and reallocating more spectrum for 5G services, not only to accommodate projected demand, but also to maintain the U.S.'s substantial lead in wireless deployment and innovation. If sufficient high band spectrum is made available, the expansion of 5G promises to produce massive consumer welfare improvements as well as economic growth in terms of GDP, jobs, and investment.
Although the FCC would be meeting an important 5G milestone by allocating high band spectrum to meet the documented projected demand, to date the Administration has been lagging in its progress of meeting the Administration's goal of deploying 500 MHz of wireless spectrum below 6 MHz. NTIA claims that "substantial progress" has been made. But two important spectrum initiatives, making available 3.5GHz spectrum and completing a successful broadcast incentive auction, still have too many uncertainties associated with them to be categorized as part of the "substantial progress." What is more, the Brattle Group last summer concluded that with increasing mobile demand, the U.S. is now about 350 MHz short of the need for more below-6-MHz spectrum.
The Senate's bipartisan MOBILE NOW Act also advances the 5G effort. Its main provisions include: (1) a mandate that the Administration's wireless spectrum allocation goals be met by the end of 2020; (2) a feasibility study for reallocating six specified bands above 24 GHz by the end of 2017, (3) a feasibility study for commercial-government sharing of spectrum between 3.1 and 3.5 GHz and between 3.7 and 4.2 GHz; (3) provisions to speed deployment of communications infrastructure on federal property; and (4) an NTIA report making recommendations to Congress that would provide incentives to federal agencies to relinquish or share the spectrum they use.
Despite these laudable efforts, however, the Senate may be settling for less than is desirable, perhaps because of demands from either the Administration or congressional Democrats. The legislation, hopefully through the amendment process, can be improved in at least the following respects: (1) by imposing a deadline on actual reallocation of millimeter wave spectrum; (2) by establishing effective incentives for government to vacate unneeded spectrum and ensuring the use of modern technology; and (3) by imposing a firm deadline for federal agencies to grant access to government lands for building out infrastructure.
All this said, Chairman Wheeler's efforts to have the FCC allocate additional high band spectrum for wireless broadband use should be applauded. Hopefully, both Congress and the Administration can build upon the FCC's achievement by enacting a rare bipartisan success story with MOBILE NOW.
* Gregory J. Vogt is a Visiting Fellow of the Free State Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan free market-oriented think tank located in Rockville, Maryland.
Read the complete Perspectives here.
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