5G On Your Smartphone? FCC Clears Path For New Spectrum Development
Could 5G technology be coming soon to your smartphone? It just took some baby steps today. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a unanimous vote of 5-0, set aside spectrum for future 5G devices. The FCC assigned frequencies at 28 gigahertz (GHz), 37 GHz, and 39 GHz, according to USA Today.
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“If the Commission approves my proposal next month, the United States will be the first country in the world to open up high-band spectrum for 5G networks and applications. And that’s damn important because it means U.S. companies will be first out of the gate.”
It’s now happened, and the leading telecommunications companies are pleased. Craig Silliman, Verizon’s general counsel and executive vice president for Public Policy, issued a glowing press release.
“The FCC’s decision today to make thousands of megahertz of high frequency spectrum available will be a critical building block in our country’s 5G future. The decision to make this spectrum available for commercial use right now will help ensure that the U.S. maintains its leadership position in wireless communications.
“5G has the potential to completely transform the connectivity marketplace. 5G will be exponentially faster and better than current wireless broadband. It will lead to more consumer choice for home broadband and connect many more devices to accommodate the explosion of the Internet of Everything.”
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“Building on the successful, flexible approach to spectrum policy that enabled the explosion of 4G (LTE), these rules set a strong foundation for the rapid advancement to next-generation 5G networks and technologies in the United States.”
One potential downside to this new development could be the FCC unwittingly pitting two somewhat different industries against each other: companies like Verizon, and companies like EchoStar (who provides satellite linkup for Dish Network). Both the 5G plans laid out by the FCC and EchoStar’s infrastructure use some of the same spectrum. Work is already underway to avoid signals crowding each other out. Despite the continually expanding use of wireless technology, most are not worried about a system-wide overcrowding.
#5G promises quantum leaps forward in speed, responsiveness, & network capacity. Read more about our new rules: https://t.co/DpcHg5Dhpu
— Tom Wheeler (@TomWheelerFCC) July 14, 2016
Of note is FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s strong advocacy for this measure. Wheeler has a reputation among insiders as something of a maverick, as a former lobbyist turned occasional anti-industry watchdog. He moved along the edge of technology, lobbying for the cable industry in the late 1970s, and the cellular industry in the ’90s. He created a startup called NABU in the ’80s that was among the first to deliver high-speed internet service through cable, at a time when few knew much about computers, let alone the internet.
“I was the CEO of the first company to deliver high-speed data over cable systems,” Wheeler told Ars Technica in March. “And it failed, not because the technology didn’t work but because we couldn’t get on the cable systems… There weren’t that many home computers.”
Now as chairman of the FCC, Wheeler seems determined to make sure government doesn’t get in the way of innovation. In Wheeler’s June speech, he remarked, “without 4G, there could be no WAZE … or Uber … or Snapchat … or Instagram. Now, I’ve listed some examples of what 5G makes possible, but if anyone tells you they know the details of what 5G will deliver, walk the other way… the future has a way of inventing itself.”
So how soon can smartphone users expect the latest and greatest 5G-capable devices to start rolling out and taking advantage of today’s FCC decision? There might be a bit more waiting for the everyday consumer.
Kathleen Abernathy, former FCC commissioner and current Frontier Communications executive vice president of external affairs, told C-SPAN earlier this month, “I know Verizon said ‘We’ll probably have some product in the market around 2017, 2018.’ Others are saying ‘I think it will be more like 2020.'”
[Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images]
