By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-19-20
In a victory for cable broadband operators and computer companies, the FCC has voted to free up the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for wireless broadband while transitioning the remaining upper 30 MHz to the latest iteration of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, and cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology.
That vote – on a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) – came at the FCC’s virtual meeting Wednesday (Nov. 18). It was unanimous, but with the Democrats concurring because they would have preferred the vote come under the upcoming Democratic–led Commission.
The FCC said the item promotes the efficient and effective use of the band by freeing up long-underused spectrum and would deliver immediate benefits combined with adjacent spectrum to provide for up to 160 MHz wide channels to help meet the growing demand for WiFi. » Read More