By Laura Stefani, CommLawBlog, March 2, 2015
New bills would force the FCC to examine, on an expedited basis, possible Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use of 5.9 GHz band.
As a general rule, the FCC is in the driver's seat when it comes to spectrum management in the U.S. But that doesn't mean that Congress can't, and won't, occasionally engage in some aggressive backseat driving. And so it is that several members of Congress have reintroduced legislation - S.424 in the Senate, H.R.821 in the House - strongly suggesting the direction the FCC should take with respect to the 5.9 GHz band (i.e., 5860-5925 MHz). The bills would require the FCC to "provide additional unlicensed spectrum in the [5.9 GHz band] under technical rules suitable for the widespread commercial development of unlicensed operations in the band", provided that the Commission first determines that such use won't cause harmful interference to existing licensees of that band. The bills also provide detailed specifications, and an accelerated timetable, governing how the FCC must make that determination.
If this sounds familiar, that's probably because an essentially identical proposal was introduced last year. No action was taken on it then, so it's been reintroduced.
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Neal McLain