FCC Should Finalize Rules for Spectrum Use in the 5.9 GHz Band

This month of July 2023, press outlets such as Communications Daily and FierceElectronics have reported on the fact that the FCC has not yet issued final rules that it proposed more than two-and-a-half years ago regarding use of the 5.9 GHz band. The Commission also has received ex parte filings regarding the lack of final rules. To date, the Commission has only granted some waivers for use of the band. The Commission should move expeditiously to finalize rules for use of 5.9 GHz band spectrum.

The FCC put a lot of work into its November 2020 order and proposed rulemaking that reallocated 45 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use. Indeed, the Commission carried out its work in the face of unusual public opposition from the Department of Transportation. The Free State Foundation filed public comments supporting the agency proposal that subsequently was adopted by the Commission in the 5.9 GHz Order. And FSF Senior Fellow Andrew Long wrote a November 2022 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "The FCC's 5.9 GHz Proposal Would Advance Both Wi-Fi and Vehicle Safety," in support of the reallocation of the spectrum for unlicensed use. 

 

The Commission also put a lot of work in its successful defense of the 5.9 GHz Order at the D.C. Circuit in Intelligent Transportation Society of America v. FCC. Mr. Long wrote about that decision in an August 2022 blog post. The court's decision vindicated the FCC's primacy among federal agencies on commercial spectrum policy. 

 

The FCC ought to now finish what it started in the November 2022 order and proposed rulemaking and promote maximal value and use of the 5.9 GHz band. Clearing the decks on the 5.9 GHz band also would enable to the Commission to devote more of its attention to licensing other spectrum bands.