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 SEPARATE  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  KATHLEEN  Q.  ABERNATHY 
 Re:  Service  Rules  for  Use  of  the  71-  76  GHz,  81-  86  GHz  and  92-  95  GHz  Bands,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking  (adopted  June  13,  2002). 


 As  technology  advances  and  the  pressure  to  “find”  more  spectrum  increases,  commercial  and  government  research  efforts  increasingly  focus  on  spectrum  in  upper 
 bands.  There  was  certainly  a  time  when  commercial  RF  interests  looked  askance  at  spectrum  at  40  GHz,  let  alone  the  70,  80,  and  90  GHz  bands  we  examine  today. 
 Innovation,  technological  change,  and  increasing  encumbrances  in  the  lower  bands  have  driven  the  regulatory  process  to  open  these  new  bands  to  commercial  operations.  Over 
 the  past  few  months  I  have  spoken  often  about  the  challenges  presented  by  new  technologies  and  the  increasingly  encumbered  FCC-  administered  spectrum  space,  today’s 
 decision  is  the  positive  outgrowth  of  the  spectrum  draught  in  the  lower  bands. 
 As  currently  conceived  the  70,  80  and  90  GHz  bands  will  use  “pencil  beams”  of  radio  energy  to  transmit  data  relatively  short  distances  between  fixed  sites.  In  many 
 cases  there  could  be  thousands  of  these  “hops”  in  a  relatively  small  geographic  area  –  but  because  of  the  narrow  beam  it  is  believed  multiple  systems  can  co-  exist  without 
 interference.  This  deployment  model  is  unlike  anything  we  have  ever  seen  and  may  require  new  thinking  on  the  appropriate  licensing  approach. 


 As  I  have  stated  before,  spectrum  management  in  our  age  requires  that  we  consider  the  full  panoply  of  tools  that  Congress  gave  us  for  spectrum  distribution: 
 licensed  and  unlicensed,  site-  by-  site  and  geographic,  large  and  small  service  areas,  paired  and  unpaired.  Here  I  strongly  believe  that  this  new  technology  requires  a  cautious 
 approach  to  the  licensing  question.  That  is,  I  am  not  prepared  to  tentatively  conclude  that  an  auction  or  even  licensing  is  required.  I  am  pleased  that  the  item  reflects  this  approach 
 and  I  look  forward  to  a  full  record  on  this  issue  with  the  type  of  creative  thinking  that  new  technologies  may  require  to  succeed. 


 Commercial  operations  also  must  share  these  new  bands  with  federal  government  spectrum  users.  However,  we  have  an  obligation  to  ensure  that  our  new  licensees  are  not 
 ultimately  surprised  to  learn  that  the  nature  of  the  federal  government  uses  in  a  band  preclude  commercial  development.  I  understand  that  some  of  this  information  regarding 
 government  systems  is  classified,  but  we  must  find  a  way  to  protect  national  security  while  also  developing  the  commercial  spectrum  resource.  I  look  forward  to  working  with 
 my  colleagues  at  NTIA  to  ensure  the  greatest  transparency  possible  in  this  and  other  bands. 


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 Thanks  to  Loea  Communications  Corporation  –  the  party  that  petitioned  for  the  rulemaking  we  begin  today,  the  other  innovators  in  the  bands,  and  the  hard  work  of  OET 
 and  the  WTB,  with  today’s  Notice  we  begin  to  open  a  new  spectrum  frontier  for  the  American  people. 
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