WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission Thursday created a “private commons” option for licensees that allows some licensed devices to operate in another licensee’s spectrum in the same way the unlicensed bands work today.
“To facilitate further the use of advanced technologies, the FCC established a new regulatory option of ‘private commons’ as part of its leasing rules. This option will be available to licensees who wish to provide spectrum access to individual users or groups of users that may not fit squarely within the current options for spectrum leasing or within traditional end-user arrangements,” said the FCC. “This new option might be attractive to users of advanced devices that are capable of dynamic spectrum access but do not necessarily require use of a licensee’s network architecture. The private-commons option enables licensees to make licensed spectrum available for use by these advanced technologies in a manner similar to that by which unlicensed users gain access to unlicensed spectrum and to do so without the necessity of entering into individual spectrum-leasing arrangements.”
Creating the private-commons option was part of a larger set of rules meant to expand the secondary-market rules implemented last year by the FCC.
“The FCC expects that the new rules will stimulate innovation, investment and consumer choice by making it easier for those who want or need access to licensed spectrum to obtain it,” said the FCC.
As part of the expansion of secondary markets, the FCC will allow public-safety users to lease spectrum to other public-safety agencies or entities that support public safety. These entities must have a mission that is integral to public safety, said John Muleta, chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. For example, a public-safety agency could lease some of its spectrum to a nuclear power plant so it would have interoperable communications with the plant’s security personnel, Muleta said.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association praised the FCC’s total package of secondary-market rules.
“Allowing wireless carriers the option to enter into secondary-market transactions with private parties increases carrier flexibility and reduces costs, resulting in lower prices and improved services for consumers,” said CTIA President Steve Largent.
