European 5G Conference
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Tom Sullivan Session 8 Introductory Presentation
Thank you Samer for the kind introduction, and thank you to Forum Europe for inviting the FCC 
to participate in the conference.  We have thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue over the past two 
days and are encouraged by what we are seeing and hearing on this side of the Atlantic! 
As we have heard from the panels at the conference, the 5G future is a truly exciting one.  As 
regulators, we all want to see 5G deployed as quickly and ubiquitously as possible.  We all want 
to see consumers benefit from the advanced services and technologies that a 5G network can 
enable—everything from autonomous cars to smart city applications.  And as we have reinforced 
throughout the past two days, one of the key enablers for all these technological advances and 
applications is the topic of our panel this afternoon – spectrum –  especially, millimeter wave 
spectrum.
The discussion about 26 GHz and 28 GHz – the leading candidates in the millimeter wave band 
for 5G connectivity in many countries -- does offer important insights and lessons to be learned 
for those of us focused on WRC-19.  [slide]
While the 28 GHz is not among the candidate bands currently being studied at the ITU under 
Agenda Item 1.13, we are excited about the progress being made in this band, including the 
commercial deployments planned in the U.S., its incorporation into the recent 3GPP standard, 
which includes 26.5 – 29.5, and how the FCC has addressed the sharing environment between 
mobile and satellite in this band.  During the NFL Super Bowl two weeks ago, one of our carriers 
completed the first live international video call to South Korea using a pre-commercial 5G 
network.  This trial was done using 28 GHz frequencies in the U.S. and South Korea.  And as our 
2colleague from NTT DoCoMo noted yesterday, Japan is poised to introduce 5G services 
commercially in advance of the upcoming Summer Olympics. 
Domestically, the FCC has been exploring the use of millimeter wave spectrum since 2014, 
acting on the advice from the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council that was examining the 
prospects for operating mobile radio services in frequency bands above 24 GHz.  By the summer 
of 2016, the FCC set the world’s first spectrum policy for “5G” – more accurately, next 
generation mobile broadband - by creating flexible use service rules, including sharing policies, 
for four spectrum bands above 24 GHz.  These bands included the 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz, 
and 64-71 GHz bands.  [SLIDE]
And just last fall, the FCC made available an additional 1.7 gigahertz of spectrum for mobile use 
in the 24 GHz and 47 GHz bands, [slide] 
while providing satellite services with spectrum they needed for their next generation networks. 
[slide]
In total, the FCC has now opened nearly 13 GHz of millimeter wave spectrum for flexible 
wireless broadband. That is a lot of Gigahertz.  
And while that is impressive, the FCC is not done there. We are continuing to evaluate the 
practicality of using additional millimeter bands. As my colleague Matthew Berry noted, we 
have also launched a proceeding looking at spectrum in the 3 to 24 GHz band, and as announced 
last week, we are now looking above the 95 GHz band for spectrum to support wireless 
broadband technologies.
3As we’ve made available bands for 5G and other advanced services, we have been conscious to 
step back and allow the private sector to drive the standards-setting process and development of 
applications and use cases.  We are already seeing this approach pay dividends as multiple U.S. 
operators are conducting 5G trials in communities across the United States, each hoping to soon 
follow with introduction of commercial service.  
I think it is important to note that – as we have heard this week – 5G use cases will vary greatly – 
and so will their associated spectrum requirements.  At the FCC – like in Europe - we have taken 
a comprehensive approach for spectrum enabling 5G – with recent regulatory actions enabling 
next generation mobile broadband deployments in low, mid and high-band spectrum.  
We are also focused domestically on modernizing our rules and removing burdensome 
regulations that deter innovation and investment – another critical step in creating an 
environment that encourages the rapid deployment of 5G infrastructure.  
Our domestic decisions did not come with a singular focus on enabling mobile technologies. 
These millimeter wave bands have traditionally been used by a number of other incumbent 
services, including terrestrial fixed, satellite and federal operations including many of the space 
science services.  A critical element of our regulatory approach was to create a path for 
continued and expanded satellite operations so that industry can advance their next generation 
networks to connect our citizens.  So, we do not see this as a zero-sum game, where someone 
must lose if another is to gain.  
To the contrary, our goal is to do all we can to avoid picking winners and losers and to 
accommodate as many services and use cases as possible.
4To that end, we have adopted flexible sharing schemes that promote coexistence among services.  
For example, in the 28 GHz band, the FCC adopted specific mechanisms to provide flexibility to 
satellite operators and predictability to terrestrial operators.  And in fact, in our Spectrum 
Frontiers Second Report and Order, we permitted an even more flexible earth station siting 
process in the 28 GHz band. So it no longer has to be either Satellite or Mobile.  It can be 
satellite and mobile.  
I want to emphasize this key point about spectrum sharing, flexibility and co-existence.  Given 
the pressures on limited spectrum resources by a range of new technologies – including 
terrestrial mobile – all of us here must look at spectrum management in a different way.  Just as 
technological advancements are allowing expanded uses for millimeter wave spectrum, 
technological advancements are also allowing for more innovative approaches to managing and 
licensing spectrum – to allow for shared use by incumbents and new users.  
Domestically, the FCC has followed these principles and as a result, we have been able to 
allocate a great deal of spectrum for new uses for our consumers while ensuring that existing 
users are able to continue and even expand their operations.  
This is equally important as we think about international spectrum management and the 
upcoming WRC-19 – and the opportunities that the World Radio Conference gives us in terms of 
enabling a range of technological solutions and uses for spectrum.  Just as we’ve shied away 
from choosing winners and losers in our domestic proceedings, the FCC carries that same 
philosophy forward internationally.  We believe our domestic experience in the United States 
demonstrates that we can and should be open to the possibility of a more flexible approach at 
WRC-19.  
5We can be successful at WRC if we evolve our understanding of what it means to have 
harmonized spectrum and recognize that identifying bands for global use does not have to be the 
zero-sum game it once was.  [slide]
Global harmonization is no longer limited to the situation where all regions must have identical 
spectrum allocations; instead, harmonization can now be facilitated through technological 
innovations such as using radio tuning ranges that allow many services and use cases.  Tuning 
ranges allow manufacturers to develop equipment that can operate across multiple bands within a 
contiguous range while allowing regulators flexibility to manage spectrum resources for 
domestic requirements.  Importantly, tuning ranges can allow for regional, and even national, 
differences, while still achieving the benefits of economies of scale and global roaming and 
securing the interference protection granted by the Radio Regulations.  This is the type of 
harmonization we intend to support regionally and, ultimately, globally at the WRC in Egypt in 
2019.  
WRC-15 may have resulted in everyone being equally unhappy; we are here to offer 
collaboration and find a way for WRC-19 to result in everyone being equally happy.
I’m very appreciative of opportunities like this one where we can start the dialog early between 
multiple industries, different regional policy viewpoints, and help build a foundation of 
understanding before WRC-19.  These opportunities will hopefully save us a little time, a little 
patience and most definitely provide us some additional creativity towards a productive WRC. 
Thank you and I look forward to more discussion with my fellow panelists.