The Federal Communications Commission has granted the use of 4.9 GHz spectrum to the First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet), and by extension, its network partner AT&T.
The order specifies that the agency has to select a band manager, which will then apply for a nationwide license and strike a sharing agreement with FirstNet, which will mean that FirstNet users will be able to use unassigned or “white space” spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band, so long as incumbent 4.9 GHz public safety users are protected.
The FCC described the move as a step toward making sure that the 4.9 GHz band is “efficiently and intensely utilized in support of public safety missions nationwide.” The 4.9 GHz decision was a bipartisan one, gathering support from all commissioners except Commissioner Anna Gomez, who did not participate in the vote.
“The FCC’s decision is an important milestone in the evolution of the 4.9 GHz band for public safety communications and first responders nationwide. The FirstNet Authority is reviewing the Order to understand how it may impact the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) and its users,” said a FirstNet spokesperson. “As we have said, if the FirstNet Authority is able to access and use spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band for the NPSBN, we will maximize the spectrum to bring further innovation and communication capabilities to our nation’s first responders, while protecting incumbent public safety operations in the band.”
The 4.9 GHz band has a tumultuous history in which there was little agreement on anything except that the band was underutilized. New licenses in the band have been frozen for years, but when they were available, you only had to be a provider of public safety services that protect life, health or property to get one; so while state and local governments use it, so do non-governmental organizations. It is a band shared among the licensees that are granted access, and “no licensee has a right to exclusive, or interference free, access to the band,” the FCC noted. But licensees are granted the right to use all 50 megahertz of the band and it is particularly flexible in use, so fixed and mobile, portable or temporary base stations and transmitters have been allowed.
The spectrum was dedicated for public safety use in 2002, but utilization has been limited outside of a few large cities; because the user base was small, equipment was expensive and adoption limited among public safety users. As the FCC sought more midband spectrum for 5G purposes, the FCC voted in late 2020 to remove the requirement that the spectrum be used for public safety purposes only. The GOP majority on the FCC at the time, under Chairman Ajit Pai, supported the view states ought to be allowed to use those airwaves to “best meet their unique needs,” as the FCC said at the time, with the idea that states could lease access to the spectrum to FirstNet, commercial operators or electric utilities. Current FCC Chairwoman and then-Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel opposed that approach, arguing that it would potentially fragment the band and that 4.9 GHz would end up like the 2.5 GHz “educational” band that mostly being leased to operators (notably, at the time, Sprint) for the revenue, instead of actually being used for educational networks. Also in late 2020, the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) was formed and began advocating for the 4.9 GHz spectrum to be added to FirstNet’s spectrum portfolio, which consists of a single, Band 14 700 MHz license.
Under Rosenworcel, the plan to let states lease out 4.9 GHz was halted and the FCC began looking at a nation-wide rather than state-level framework for control of and access to the spectrum, while also exploring the extent to which it might be used for commercial wireless activity rather than being a band exclusively for the use of public safety. The freeze on activity in the band was partially lifted in 2021; current licensees could modify their use of the band, but new licensees were not allowed.
The FCC says there are still nearly 3,700 licenses currently issued in the band, including more than 130 statewide area licenses (some states have statewide licenses in other states), more than 1,100 county-wide area licenses, and more than 2,400 other licenses, such as for a group of counties, a city or parts of a city.
Fast-forward to the most recent debate on the use of 4.9 GHz, in which AT&T and public safety advocates including PSSA argued that the spectrum should be allocated to FirstNet in order to ensure that there was sufficient capacity for 5G, and as a band where public safety users would be assured protection against harmful interference, managed by the band manager.
The FCC said in the new report and order: “We are persuaded that expanding the Band Manager’s role and responsibilities to encompass a nationwide overlay license and a sharing agreement with FirstNet for any unassigned spectrum is the best approach to ensure that 4.9 GHz band spectrum is more fully utilized in the near term, while at the same time protecting existing incumbent licensee usage. … The Band Manager, once it has applied for and receives an overlay license, will obtain the rights to a nationwide geographic area license across the entire 50 megahertz of the band that is ‘overlaid’ on top of the existing incumbent licenses and includes areas where spectrum is unassigned. … This is akin to the framework that the Commission adopted in the 700 MHz [band] … in that that the 4.9 GHz Band Manager will be prohibited from using the overlay license to provide its own services.”
The FCC added in the order that the “overlay license will enable FirstNet’s public safety operations in unassigned spectrum in the band, which will aid in expanding the provision of an important public service and further advance FirstNet’s mission by making its service more reliable and putting available spectrum to use in order to prevent and/or respond to a disaster or crisis affecting the public.”
Verizon and T-Mobile US have been among the opponents of the move. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg has protested what, according to an FCC filing, he saw as a “proposed spectrum giveaway would disrupt the competitive marketplace for public safety and commercial wireless use. Providing AT&T with access to an additional 50 megahertz of mid-band spectrum valued at over $14 billion and available for commercial use would result in a substantial windfall, particularly at a time when the Commission and other policymakers are working to develop a pipeline for mid-band spectrum.” Vestberg argued that if the Commission made the spectrum available for public safety and commercial wireless use, it must do so through an appropriate competitive process “rather than
gifting the spectrum to one commercial provider.” However, the FCC has lacked auction authority for more than a year. And its action on the 4.9 GHz spectrum may face legal challenges, as several commenters argued in the FCC record that it was questionable as to whether the agency would be acting within its current legal authority if it required that a Band Manager strike a sharing deal with FirstNet, and also questioned whether FirstNet even had legal authority to operate outside of the 700 MHz license which it was granted by Congress.
AT&T, however, argued in an FCC filing that: “This spectrum is necessary to address public safety’s growing need for dedicated 5G spectrum and that by providing the FNA with access to it, public safety won’t be left behind.” It said that calling FirstNet spectrum access to 4.9 GHz a “windfall” for AT&T mischaracterized the relationship between the two entities. “It is not a grant of ’50 megahertz of mid-band spectrum’ to AT&T,” the carrier declared, adding: “AT&T would gain no license, lease, or other spectrum use authorization for any 4.9 GHz band spectrum.” The Band Manager will hold the license, the carrier said, and AT&T itself is only able to use excess network capacity on a secondary, interruptible basis. (It should be noted, however, that the FirstNet arrangement, even on a secondary basis, enabled AT&T to do highly valuable one-touch upgrades across its network on the road to 5G.)
The Competitive Carriers Association also released a statement expressing disappointment in the decision. “CCA is disappointed with the FCC’s decision to grant access the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet and, by extension, AT&T. This move raises concerns about long-term local control of important public safety communication resources and represents an anti-competitive spectrum opportunity for AT&T,” said CCA President and CEO Tim Donovan.
Representatives of the utilities industry, as well as some large public transportation systems like the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority (which wants to use 4.9 GHz for intelligent transport connectivity) had also opposed the change to the 4.9 GHz band.
But FirstNet advocates cheered the FCC’s action.
“When public safety stands together, our voice is loud and clear. As I once stated in a congressional hearing, ‘we aren’t paid to quit.’ Our mission is to protect the American people and today the FCC again showed its support of that mission. We are eternally grateful to Chairwoman Rosenworcel, Commissioner Carr, Commissioner Starks, and Commissioner Simington,” said Chief Jeff Johnson (Ret), a former FirstNet official who served for six years on the FirstNet board and as the organization’s Vice Chairman.
