Federal Communications Commission	FCC 22-29
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR

Re: 	Promoting Efficient Use of Spectrum through Improved Receiver Interference Immunity Performance.  ET Docket No. 22-137, Notice of Inquiry (April 21, 2022)

	Over the past few years, the FCC made great strides in freeing up spectrum—and those steps proved key to powering America’s 5G leadership.  2.5 GHz, 3.45 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 4.9 GHz, the L Band, 5.9 GHz, 6 GHz, and the C-Band, to name more than a few.  It is no secret that much of this work involved identifying spectrum that was previously assigned to federal users and opening it up for consumer use.  But physically occupying an assigned spectrum band is not the only way that federal users or other incumbents can prevent a valuable swath of airwaves from being put to its highest and best use.  One other way is through receivers that “listen in” on frequencies that are beyond their assigned bands.

	This is far from a theoretical problem.  And we see it rather frequently when it comes to federal users, among others.  Take the L Band.  This is a valuable stretch of spectrum in the 1 GHz range that has been effectively sitting on the sidelines for over ten years now.  There’s no 5G there right now despite the FCC authorizing it and the band having a great mix of coverage and propagation characteristics.  Why?  Well, when you take the federal users’ public arguments and boil them down to their essence, it comes down to a disagreement over how much interference federal devices experience when they listen in to a spectrum band located far, far away from their assigned frequencies.  We are seeing something similar with the federal government’s arguments in the C-Band.  While the FCC’s expert engineering team determined that there is no harmful interference in either of those cases, that entire, time-consuming effort might have been avoided if more efficient receiver standards were in place.  Otherwise, our innovative use cases of the future are going to be constrained and limited by potentially decades old and inefficient standards.  

	And that’s where today’s NOI could make a real difference.  So I want to commend Commissioner Simington on his leadership and early interest in tackling this issue.  It’s not the easiest of areas to cut through.  Indeed, when the FCC launched a similar inquiry—all the way back in 2003—many predicted that spectrum management would become more difficult as the airwaves became more crowded due to the proliferation of wireless services.  Flash forward nearly 20 years later and this prediction has come to pass.  So I am hopeful that working together we can make good progress on this issue this time around.
	
	I think we’re off to a good start.  And I am pleased that Chairwoman Rosenworcel and Commissioner Simington worked closely to advance this NOI.  If we get it right, it has the potential to unlock tremendous value for consumers.

Finally, I would like to thank staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology for preparing this item.  It has my support.