On March 10, 2022, the Office of Engineering and Technology released a Public Notice seeking comment on the District of Columbia Circuit Court’s remand of the FCC’s 6 GHz Report and Order (“R&O”). The R&O required that the operation of devices relying on indoor low power access points be: (1) limited to indoor operation; (2) required to use a contention-based protocol; and (3) subject to low-power operation. The Court granted review of a claim by the National Association of Broadcasters (“NAB”) requesting that the Commission reserve a sliver of the 6 GHz band exclusively for mobile licensees to avoid interference concerns. The Court ruled that the FCC never responded to the NAB’s complaints about interference in the 2.4 GHz band, though it declined to vacate the entire order, instead mandating that the FCC respond to the NAB’s concerns.
The Public Notice seeks comment on NAB’s arguments in the FCC’s proceeding regarding broadcasters’ experience in the 2.4 GHz band, how that experience relates to the kinds of contention-based protocol operations prescribed for indoor use in the 6 GHz rules, and whether the 2.4 GHz experience warrants reservation of a portion of the 6 GHz band for mobile indoor operations or any other modification to the Commission’s 6 GHz rules.
Comments will be due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register; reply comments will be due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.
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