United States: Groups Ask FCC to Pause Certifications of Commercial 6 GHz Devices

Groups Ask FCC to Pause Certifications of Commercial 6 GHz Devices
rrmediagroup.com, 1st February 2021

A coalition of public-safety and critical infrastructure organizations sent a letter to the FCC asking the commission to pause any certifications for commercial devices to be used on 6 GHz spectrum.

The groups urged the FCC to pause any approvals for the new equipment until it performs rigorous testing to ensure that the existence of the devices will not cause harmful interreference to incumbent fixed microwave links used by public safety and critical infrastructure agencies.

Last year, the FCC approved new rules that allowed unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band. Those new rules allowed two types of unlicensed devices in the band. Standard power devices are governed by automatic frequency coordination (AFC) technology that is intended to prevent interference to incumbent users. Meanwhile, low-power devices are not subject to AFC coordination but under the rules are only allowed indoors.

In court briefings and FCC filings asking for reconsideration of the rules, public-safety and critical infrastructure organizations expressed concern about low-power indoor devices (LPIs) arguing that the FCC won’t be able to ensure that they will only be used indoors and that tracking interference from so many unlicensed devices will be very difficult.

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