STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN
Re: Amendment of the Commission’s Rules with Regard to Commercial Operations in the 
3550-3650 MHz Band,  GN Docket No. 12-354
There is no question that the Nation's seemingly endless demand for commercial fixed 
and mobile wireless services, makes it critically important for policymakers to design quicker 
ways to repurpose, and promote more efficient use of spectrum.  I commend Chairman 
Genachowski for fast tracking rule making proceedings which should accomplish these twin 
policy goals.  
The Incentive Auction NPRM we adopted, this past September, advances both of these 
priorities through a comprehensive process design that would allow broadcast TV licensees to 
voluntarily relinquish spectrum for wireless services reallocation.  It also proposes a band plan 
and rules that would enable wireless carriers to continue using unlicensed Wi-Fi offload services 
to efficiently manage smartphone traffic on their networks.  
This 3.5 GHz item is another great example of the Commission moving quickly to 
employ creative approaches toward finding more spectrum for commercial wireless services and 
promoting more efficient spectral uses.  The NPRM initiates a proceeding, to implement the 
recommendations the President's Council on Science and Technology made, this past summer to 
share underutilized Federal spectrum to the maximum extent possible.  PCAST recognized that 
these recommendations would represent a major evolution of existing spectrum management 
practices and that the transformation would be difficult and take a long to implement.  
This item is a terrific start to adopting the first element of the PCAST recommendations -
- commercial services sharing 100 megahertz of spectrum, in the 3550 and 3650 MHz bands that 
is currently allocated for Federal agency use.  In the structure for licensing and using the 3.5 GHz 
band, the NPRM incorporates two new technological advances that can substantially increase our 
Nation's efficient use of spectrum:  First, greater use of small cell network deployments, much 
like the small cell architecture, that large wireless carriers use now to offload their smartphone 
traffic on to unlicensed Wi-Fi networks.  Second, it proposes a Spectrum Access System that 
would employ the concepts used, to establish the successful TV White Space databases.  
The NPRM is structured to develop a comprehensive record on a wide range of issues, 
such as appropriate licensing schemes; flexible interference mitigation techniques; appropriate 
deployment strategies for 3.5 GHz band; and proposals for the Spectrum Access System database 
that would manage access to and use of the 3.5 GHz Band.
The NPRM also improves on the PCAST recommendation, by proposing ways to use 150 
megahertz of spectrum, by including the 3650 to 3700 megahertz bands.   These bands are used 
extensively by wireless Internet service providers, or WISPs, to provide commercial broadband 
service in rural and other underserved areas.  This proposal would bring greater spectrum 
availability and equipment scale economies to WISPs and other current 3650-3700 MHz 
licensees.  
Thanks are due to Paul Powell for his presentation and, I wish to commend Ruth 
Milkman and her creative staff, for presenting such an outstanding NPRM.