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FCC proposes spectrum sharing, as mobile carriers give wary eye

Mobile industry will have to share 3.5 GHz band, will setup "small cell" sites.

On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission made good on its September promise to free up 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, mainly to be used for “small cell” sites.

The range, between 3550 and 3650 MHz, is currently used for United States Navy radar operations and covers approximately 60 percent of the American population. The new plan will let mobile phone companies share that spectrum with federal users.

The FCC says that the 100 MHz swath will be divided into three tiers, the top for incumbent government and military users. The second and third, meanwhile, will be divvied up amongst “critical use facilities,” and “General Authorized Access,” respectively.

“A spectrum access system, incorporating a geo-location enabled dynamic database, would govern access to the 3.5 GHz band,” the FCC said in a statement.

As we reported three months ago, mobile carriers are generally reluctant to share this spectrum, but now they at least seem willing to go along.

"We look forward to working with the Commission on the 3.5 GHz proceeding," said Chris Guttman-McCabe, a vice president at CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade group, in a statement. "While this spectrum is not part of the 300 MHz that the FCC has identified for allocation for mobile flexible use before 2015, we are interested to see how the proceeding develops, and how the band ultimately can be used to support the provision of mobile broadband."

Channel Ars Technica