On April 23, the FCC published the final rules regarding the issue of expanding flexible use of the 3.7 – 4.2 GHz band. After the initial Report and Order of Proposed Modification was published on March 3, 2020, two subsequent erratums were released by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau amending the initial Report and Order. Following is a summary of the rules, effective June 22, 2020.
The first erratum, released on March 27, amended the initial Report and Order as well as Appendices A and B. The second erratum, released on April 16, replaced Appendix A with a revised copy to reflect the changes made in this first erratum. The final ruling repacks existing satellite operations into the upper 200 MHz of the C-band, making 280 MHz of the spectrum available for flexible use and an additional 20 MHz allocated for use as a guard band. The FCC will hold an auction later in the year to ensure that a portion of the spectrum is available for developing 5G deployments. By expanding flexible use in the C-band, the FCC is advancing in the facilitation of its 5G FAST Plan and ensuring the US is a chief player in the global 5G ecosystem.