Federal Communications Commission	FCC 21-83
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR
Re:	Amendment of Section 15.255 of the Commission’s Rules, ET Docket No. 21-264.
	Since 2017, the FCC has made significant progress on opening the airwaves needed for next-generation services, including 5G.  By the end of last year, our efforts freed up more than six gigahertz of spectrum for licensed use in addition to thousands of megahertz for unlicensed use.  So I am pleased that we are starting another spectrum proceeding today that will look at authorizing new and innovative use cases in the 60 GHz range.

Of course, there is much more work ahead to maintain U.S. leadership in wireless.  One of the challenges we faced back in 2017 was the absence of mid-band spectrum in the pipeline.  So we went to work and put a plan in place to turn things around.    

We held the first auction of mid-band spectrum in 2020 with 70 MHz worth of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band.  At 2.5 GHz, we transformed the rules governing nearly 200 MHz worth of this mid-band spectrum to support 5G builds and teed up over 100 MHz for auction.  At 4.9 GHz, we modernized the regulation of a 50 MHz swath of spectrum.  In the L Band, we authorized 30 MHz of spectrum for 5G and IoT.  At 5.9 GHz, we opened up 45 megahertz for unlicensed.  Plus, we pushed out an additional 1,200 MHz for unlicensed in the 6 GHz band.  And of course, there’s the Big Kahuna, C Band, where we cleared 280 MHz of sought-after mid-band spectrum.

These were not all walks in the park.  In many cases, these were spectrum bands that prior FCCs took a pass on.  Not because the bands were unsuited for next-gen wireless services, but because moving forward meant taking political heat for doing the right thing.  In fact, we would still be hundreds of megahertz behind and stuck in neutral while our global counterparts passed us by if we had heeded the calls for inaction by some in Washington.

So we need to be clear eyed about our spectrum policy going forward.  For the U.S. to extend its leadership, the FCC needs to match the pace and cadence we hit over the past few years on spectrum auctions and authorizations.  The challenge today is not an empty spectrum cupboard, it is making sure we maintain the progress we’ve been making.

That is why I released a spectrum calendar back in March. Keynote Remarks of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Extending America’s 5G Leadership (Mar. 15, 2021) https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-370781A1.pdf; see also https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1382080503931617284?s=20. 
  Hitting those milestones will ensure the U.S. stays on track.  And there are several spectrum actions I highlighted for the FCC to accomplish this year.

For one, we should ensure the 3.45 GHz auction stays on track.  While we have now locked in an October start date, which is good news, we should ensure productive collaboration between federal users and prospective bidders over the next few weeks to ensure a successful auction.  For another, we should auction the remaining 2.5 GHz licenses before the end of this year.  We teed up a 2021 auction through a public notice that we released in early January, and getting this done would unlock another 100+ megahertz of prime mid-band spectrum.
The FCC should also start a proceeding this year that explores new opportunities for unlicensed operations in the U-NII-2C band (5470-5725 MHz)—including for very low power operations.  We should seek comment this year, too, on increasing the power levels for CBRS operations in the 3.5 GHz band.  In fact, next week marks the one-year anniversary of the start of the CBRS auction.  Now that the band is being used nationwide, we can use real-world experiences to explore the benefits of raising the power levels to maximize its full potential.  Finally, we should adopt an order this year that permits additional uses in the 6 GHz band for very low power devices and device-to-device communications.

As I laid out in March, all of that can be done this year and would demonstrate that we are keeping the pedal down on spectrum.

The calendar I put out also proposed concrete actions on several additional bands in 2022 and beyond, but I will save some time today and not reiterate those here.  

So the good news is that we have plenty in the spectrum pipeline.  It’s on us at the FCC to make sure we stick to this schedule and get it into the market.  I am happy to work my FCC colleagues and stakeholders on proceedings that would do just that.  

As for the spectrum item before us today, I would like to offer my thanks to the staff of the Office of Engineering and Technology for their work on today’s item, as well as Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel for bring this item forward.  It has my support.