12/14 FCC Opposition to Request for Stay of 6 GHz Band Rules

New America's Open Technology Institute wrote and filed an opposition to a Request for Stay filed at the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) and urged the Commission to instead move to expeditiously finalize rules in the 6 GHz band to support the next generation of Wi-Fi services. OTI and PK urged the Commission to reject the request for the Commission to issue a stay of the certification of 6 GHz unlicensed equipment, which would ostensibly halt any development among market players and consumers in the next generation of high-speed, high-capacity Wi-Fi, filed by The Utilities Technology Council, the Edison Electric Institute (“EEI”), the American Public Power Association (“APCO”), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Gas Association, the American Water Works Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Association of American Railroads, the Association of Public-Safety Communications OfficialsInternational, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. An introduction and summary is available below:

New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge (“OTI and PK”) respectfully submit this opposition to the stay requested by The Utilities Technology Council, the Edison Electric Institute (“EEI”), the American Public Power Association (“APCO”), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Gas Association, the American Water Works Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the Association of American Railroads, the Association of Public-Safety Communications OfficialsInternational, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (“Petitioners”) for the certification of any equipment using 6 GHz unlicensed low power indoor (“LPI”) devices.

Although styled as a Petition for Rulemaking, Petitioners have in reality filed an untimely Petition for Reconsideration that the Commission should reject pursuant to Rule 1.106(p). Petitioners merely restate and rehash arguments previously submitted and considered by the Commission. The Commission is not required to address repetitive requests without a substantial new basis in fact or law, both of which Petitioners have failed to provide. As a consequence, a stay in support of the untimely Petition must also fail. There is no basis to consider a request to stay the authorization and use of devices for LPI operations in the band that is premised on the ultimate success of an untimely, procedurally defective and frivolous Petition. Even if the Commission elects to put the Petition out on Public Notice, the agency should reject the stay request for the reasons it rejected the Petition for Stay sought by APCO and EEI in August 2020.

The Petitioners make it clear in the very first sentence of the Petition that they are seeking yet another reconsideration of the rules for LPI adopted by the Commission more than 18 months ago after a lengthy and in-depth review of technical evidence in the record. There is no evidence that harmful interference will result from the authorization or use of LPI devices in the 6 GHz band. Petitioners’ attempt to use equipment certification is a transparent maneuver to delay and ultimately derail the ability of consumers, schools and virtually every American to gain the benefits of 5G-quality Wi-Fi 6 that is regulators worldwide are rapidly authorizing in this same band. Instead of considering this deeply flawed request, the Commission should expedite the completion of outstanding issues in the FNPRM and move to streamline the approval of Automated Frequency Control (“AFC”) systems for standard power use.

More importantly, if the Commission were to grant a temporary stay, it would cause widespread harm to the public interest. The stay would completely disrupt the emerging market for next-generation Wi-Fi that is set to provide high-speed, high-capacity home services to hundreds of millions of households and indefinitely delay the innovation and consumer benefits spurred by Wi-Fi 6E devices. High-capacity Wi-Fi improves the productivity of virtually every other industry. These services also play a critical role in distributing bandwidth to an increasing number of devices and high-bandwidth applications in most homes and businesses. Granting a stay now would waste the significant capital that investors and consumers have spent in reliance on the Commission’s nearly two year-old decision. And even if the Commission were to grant a “temporary stay” that it later rescinds, that would do irreparable damage to consumer uptake and the nation’s emerging 5G wireless ecosystem.