NEWS
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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).
News Media Information 202-418-0500
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
July 2, 2013 Matthew Berry, 202-418-2005
Email:  Matthew.Berry@fcc.gov  
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI
ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE RECORD
CONCERNING THE 600 MHz BAND PLAN
GN Docket No. 12-268
The comment cycle for the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau’s Public Notice 
seeking additional input on various 600 MHz band plans closed last Friday.
1
  One thing remains 
clear:  There is overwhelming support in the record for moving forward with a “Down from 51” 
band plan.  Wireless carriers of all sizes, broadcasters, equipment manufacturers, cable operators, 
wireless Internet service providers, and health care service providers have all endorsed the Down 
from 51 approach.
2
  Indeed, there was no support at all in the record for the “Down from 51 
Reversed” plan contained in the Public Notice.
Now is the time for my colleagues and I to accept this consensus and turn to the details of 
a “Down from 51” band plan.  In particular, we need to figure out how much spectrum above 
Channel 37 should be paired, and we must confront the issue of market variability directly.
As we do our work, our lodestar must be a band plan that works from a technical 
perspective.  We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the past, such as the interference problems 
plaguing the Lower 700 MHz A Block and the LightSquared debacle.  That means, for example, 
that our band plan must prevent interference among wireless carriers, broadcasters, and wireless 
medical telemetry service operators.  That is in the interest of data-hungry mobile consumers.  
That is in the interest of families that watch broadcast television.  That is in the interest of 
patients and health care providers.  And ultimately, that is in the interest of all Americans.
                                           
1
See Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Seeks to Supplement the Record on the 600 MHz Band Plan, GN Docket 
No. 12-268 (May 17, 2013), available at http://go.usa.gov/bJD3.
2
See, e.g., Comments of T-Mobile USA, Inc. at 2 (June 14, 2013); Comments of Verizon and Verizon Wireless at 2 
(June 14, 2013); Reply Comments of Vulcan Wireless LLC and Skyhigh Wireless LLC at 2 (June 28, 2013); Reply 
Comments of the National Association of Broadcasters at 1 (June 28, 2013); Comments of Consumer Electronics 
Association at 1 (June 14, 2013); Comments of Motorola Mobility LLC at 1 (June 14, 2013); Comments of National 
Cable & Telecommunications Association at 8–9 (June 14, 2013); Reply Comments of WISPA at 2 (June 28, 2013); 
Comments of the WMTS Coalition at 5 (June 14, 2013).