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FCC Now Accepting Applications for Non-Exclusive
3.6 GHz Wireless Licenses
Interference-protection equipment required,
WiMAX use limited; spectrum most applicable to smaller markets
By Theresa
Cavanaugh and Chris
Fedeli
[December 2007]
In mid-November, the FCC began accepting applications for non-exclusive,
nationwide licenses in the 3650-3700 MHz band. First adopted
in 2005, this licensing scheme is being implemented as a hybrid
of the traditional exclusive licensing regime—in which
only one party is authorized to use wireless frequencies in
any given area—and the unlicensed model (currently applicable
to the 2.4 GHz band), in which certain spectrum bands may be
used by any party, without FCC notice or approval. A significant
difference for new licensees of the 3.6 GHz spectrum is the
required use of interference-avoiding equipment.
Entities wishing to deploy services in the 3.6 GHz band are
required to: 1) obtain an FCC license, 2) research third-party
transmissions in the area where they want to deploy services,
in order to minimize harmful interference to other operations,
3) register each fixed point-to-point or base station with the
FCC, and 4) use Commission-approved wireless equipment supporting
“contention-based” transmission protocols.
Contention-based protocol equipment is designed to avoid electrical
interference with nearby third-party transmissions operating
on or near the same wireless frequency band, using technology
that monitors or senses other transmissions and ensures that
more than one party can use the same frequencies in proximate
areas without interfering with other signals. Under the FCC’s
new approach for licensing this band, 3.6 GHz band licensees
will not enjoy the same interference protections of exclusive-use
wireless licensees, but the FCC’s requirement that the
spectrum be used with interference-avoiding equipment will provide
for greater protection than is currently available to unlicensed
spectrum users.
The 3650-3700 MHz band currently is used by grandfathered fixed-satellite
and radiolocation-service operations, which will continue to
use these frequencies. These grandfathered operations likely
will prevent new use of this band in many major U.S. population
centers, making the spectrum most useful to rural and smaller
market broadband wireless operations.
Significantly, for parties interested in using this band to
deploy broadband wireless services using the WiMAX last-mile
wireless standard, the Commission determined that to the extent
WiMAX-compatible equipment (or other equipment) uses restricted
contention protocols that detect interference only from other
WiMAX-compatible transmissions, those uses may only be licensed
in the lower 25 MHz of the band—3650-3675 MHz. One manufacturer
recently announced that it is offering FCC-compliant base-station
equipment with the WiMAX transmission standard for use in this
band. Use of the full 50 MHz of spectrum available will be licensed
to operators using unrestricted contention-based protocols only.
For questions about, or for assistance in,
obtaining an FCC license to use the 3650-3700 MHz band, please
contact:
This advisory is a publication of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
Our purpose in publishing this advisory is to inform our clients
and friends of recent legal developments. It is not intended,
nor should it be used, as a substitute for specific legal advice
as legal counsel may be given only in response to inquiries
regarding particular situations.
Copyright
© 2007, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
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