FCC shifts airwaves toWiFi as carmakers lose spectrum
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted to redeploy airwaves assigned 21 years ago for a vehicle safety system that hasn’t come to fruition, rejecting carmakers’ efforts to hold onto the frequencies.
The change, on a 5-0 vote, follows years of rearguard lobbying by carmakers to retain their exclusive hold on the rich airwaves swath they were allotted in 1999.
Since then a new wireless era has arrived, with surging demand for frequencies from mobile phones and other devices that connect overWiFi. In response, the FCC has moved to open airwaves to new uses. Those at issue are suited to new 5G technologies that promise connected factories and homes via ultra-fast links.
The FCC has opened the way for billions ofWiFi devices to use frequencies once destined for a safety system to be used by the likes of pickup trucks and Cadillac sedans linked to roadside gadgets.
The long-promised safety network hasn’tmaterialized, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at the FCC’s meeting inWashingtonminutes before the vote.
“We can no longer tolerate this inefficient use” of the airwaves, Pai said.
Automakers tried to avoid the loss of the spectrum by proposing to enable “talking cars” quicker with the installation of at least 5 million socalled vehicle-to-everything radios on vehicles and roadside infrastructure over the next five years.
The FCC’smove “would jeopardize roadway safety and U.S. leadership regarding automotive safety technologies,” said John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group with members including BMW AG, Ford, GM and Toyota Motor Corp.
Reassigning the airwaves represents a win for cable providers such as Comcast Corp. that want to use the frequencies to connect with customers’ mobile devices. They promise gigabit speeds, or very fast connections.
The FCC is taking “an important step” toward “improving and expanding broadband service,” NCTA, aWashington-based trade group for cable companies, said in a Nov. 10 filing. “It will allow providers quickly to deliver gigabit WiFi speeds to consumers and relieveWiFi congestion.”
The frequencies could play host to fast communications including machine-to-machine links, and smart city applications such as connected cameras, traffic monitoring and security sensors, NCTA said in a filing.
The coronavirus pandemic has boosted reliance onWiFi as more households are turning to distance learning, teleworking and social networking, the FCC said.
Companies backing the FCC’s plan include Comcast, Broadcom Inc. and Facebook Inc., the agency said. Facebook lobbied the agency to ensure that users could access the frequencies outdoors as well as indoors.
Pai brushed aside objections from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who said reassigning the airwaves risks throttling ongoing efforts to build wireless safety systems that could help prevent vehicle crashes.
The FCC has “ignored or rejected” comments fromthe Transportation Department, Chao said in an Oct. 15 letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department arm that referees federal airwaves uses.
The FCC order calls for devoting most of the auto-safety airwaves to broadband uses includingWiFi for routers. The remainder of the swath goes to a new cellular connected-vehicle technology. The agency decided against retaining a sliver for the legacy safety system. That system“has barely been deployed, meaning this spectrum has been largely unused,” the FCC said in its proposed order.