STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI RE: Facilitating Shared Use in the 3.1-3.55 GHz Band, WT Docket No. 19-348 In March 2018, Congress passed, and the President signed the MOBILE NOW Act. That law aims to advance American leadership in wireless technologies in several ways. Among other things, it requires the executive branch to explore sharing of the 3.1-3.55 GHz band between federal operations and commercial wireless services. Currently, portions of this band are used by the Department of Defense, with some non-federal users offering services on a secondary basis. To prepare the upper portion of the 3.1-3.55 GHz band for the future shared use contemplated by Congress, today we are proposing to remove the existing non-federal secondary radiolocation and amateur allocations in the 3.3-3.55 GHz band and relocate those operations to other frequencies, such as the 3.1-3.3 GHz portion of the band. Today’s proposal would enable continued use of the spectrum by the Department of Defense, while creating a glidepath for this critical mid-band spectrum to be freed up for 5G. Clearing the upper 250 megahertz of the band of existing non-federal operations would build upon the Commission’s ongoing work to enable commercial use of spectrum in nearby bands, including the 3.55-3.7 GHz band and the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, commonly called the C-band. Together, these three bands would make a massive amount of prime mid-band spectrum—as much as 680 megahertz—available for new fixed and mobile wireless services. Our action today is just another example of our comprehensive strategy to free up spectrum for commercial use across the country and advance American leadership in the next generation of wireless connectivity. We have been aggressive in freeing up mid-band spectrum in particular. For instance, an auction of the 3.5 GHz band will commence on June 25, 2020. The Commission is also focused on commencing an auction of 280 MHz of spectrum in the C-band late next year. And we recently voted to put the 2.5 GHz band—the largest swath of contiguous spectrum in the country below 3 GHz—to use for the American people. In addition to these mid-band efforts, we’ve also been hard at work when it comes to high-band spectrum. In January, we finished an auction of spectrum in the 28 GHz band. In May, we concluded an auction of spectrum in the 24 GHz band. And earlier this week, we launched an auction of 3,400 MHz of spectrum in the upper 37, 39, and 47 GHz bands, which is the largest spectrum auction in American history. None of these accomplishments would be possible without the labors of our talented staff. And in particular, I would like to thank the following for their work on this item: Jessica Greffenius, Roger Noel, Matthew Pearl, Paul Powell, Milton Price, Jaclyn Rosen, Becky Schwartz, Dana Shaffer, Joshua Smith, Don Stockdale, Scot Stone, and Mary Claire York of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; Michael Ha, Julie Knapp, Tom Mooring, Nicholas Oros, and Anthony Serafini of the Office of Engineering and Technology; Chana Wilkerson from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities; and Michael Carlson, David Horowitz, Bill Richardson, and Anjali Singh from the Office of General Counsel.