FCC Moving Beyond "Licensed, Unlicensed" Spectrum Framework

The Federal Communications Commission has moved to make 100 MHz of spectrum in the 5-GHz (5.150-5.250 GHz) band available for Wi-Fi or other uses. The move will increase the total amount of U.S. Wi-Fi spectrum by about 15 percent, some claim.

The FCC also says it is “not stopping here when it comes to unlicensed spectrum.” Specifically, the Commission is looking at releasing additional spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band and is studying how to release another 195 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in other parts of the 5GHz band.

But the significance is not so much the release of additional spectrum for unlicensed use, but the change in thinking about the respective roles of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, as well as the new thinking about ways to share previously-licensed government spectrum with additional commercial users.

In fact, FCC Chairman says old debates about the value and role of unlicensed and licensed spectrum are relics of the “analog era.”

Though many observers will say the statement obscures key differences in value for various contestants (mobile carriers would likely not agree about the role of licensed spectrum for their business models), there is much truth to Wheeler’s contention that “in 2014, licensed and unlicensed spectrum are more complementary than competitive.”

“They are less oil and vinegar and more peanut butter and jelly,” Wheeler says, with mobile service providers using Wi-Fi to offload more than 45 percent of smartphone traffic

to fixed networks.

“To put this 100 MHz number into perspective, that’s more usable spectrum than the 2.4 GHz

band that gave birth to Wi-Fi in the first place,” said Wheeler.

Still, it is hard to argue with the notion that licensed spectrum is central for mobile service providers, while unlicensed spectrum is foundational for application providers and many competitive high speed access providers.

But bigger changes are coming. The FCC also is preparing to potentially license additional mobile spectrum, useful for Long Term Evolution, on a shared basis.

The novelty here is that the licenses will not necessarily be sold on an “exclusive basis.” The new band, called Advanced Wireless Services-3 (AWS-3), would be the first shared band between commercial networks and government systems.

That could have important ramifications for any number of service and application providers, who potentially could build facilities-based networks without necessarily always paying fees to buy exclusive licenses.