New America Encouraged by 42 GHz Proceeding, Concerned on 6 GHz Progress

Wireless Future Project director Michael Calabrese is quoted in a Communications Daily article about a conversation he had with an aide to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel regarding the 42 GHz and 6 GHz bands of spectrum, with Calabrese applauding the FCC’s approach in proposing sharing in the 42 GHz band and asking about unresolved issues in the 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band.

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel the FCC was right in its approach proposing sharing in the 42 GHz band, approved by commissioners 4-0 in June (see 2306080042). Calabrese had been an early advocate of the approach (see 2305300055). Most of the licensed “Spectrum Frontier” spectrum “sits mostly idle in mobile carrier warehouses awaiting an economically viable use case,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-258: “In contrast, … this band, particularly in combination with the lower 37 GHz band, could facilitate very high-capacity point-to-multipoint fixed access wireless deployments where they are needed most in both less densely populated areas, as well as in multi-tenant environments.” Calabrese also asked about remaining unresolved issues in the 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band (see 2306230046). Public interest groups find it “very discouraging that some staff seem to want to take the Commission backwards to focusing on corner cases based on hypothetical measures of ‘interference’ … that are unrelated to actual harmful interference (i.e., to link availability),” Calabrese said.