The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken action to increase the spectrum available to wireless broadband technologies and services.
Issued in mid-May, the FCC’s Report and Order, Order of Proposed Modification, and Orders reallocates six megahertz in the 900 MHz spectrum band for use by broadband licenses on a county-by-county basis. The spectrum being made available for broadband licenses was previously designated for narrowband land mobile radio communications, primarily used by land transportation, utility, manufacturing and petrochemical companies.
The FCC says that this change will “enable next generation, mission-critical applications not available via current narrowband systems.” At the same time, the Commission’s order reserves four megahertz of the 900 MHz spectrum for continued use for legacy mobile radio communications purposes.
The FCC’s Report and Order also establishes a transition mechanism for the change to facilitate negotiations between existing narrowband incumbents and prospective broadband licenses and includes safeguards to prevent broadband applicants from unfairly benefiting from the change.
Read the complete text of the FCC’s Report and Order on the reallocation of a portion of the 900 MHz spectrum.
