Advances in wireless technology are getting some love in the fight over whether the 12 GHz band should be used for 5G.
In its latest arguments before the FCC, long-time 12 GHz 5G proponent RS Access points to a report that identifies recent technology advances for making the 12 GHz band so desirable for 5G, including Massive MIMO, beamforming and 5G carrier aggregation.
In support of the 12 GHz band offering a “huge technical advantage,” RS Access points to engineering firm Roberson and Associates’ findings that the 12 GHz band is a great “Goldilocks” band combining the best of C-band and millimeter wave (mmWave) characteristics in the areas of capacity, coverage, path loss and equipment development.
RS Access is putting a renewed focus on its quest to get the 12 GHz band teed up for 5G. The firm, which has ties to Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, owns MVDDS licenses in the band, which could be used for 5G, a more lucrative use than the original intent for the spectrum.
Dish Network is another big player in RS Access’ corner – one that is at direct odds with biggies like Elon Musk’s Starlink, which also wants to use the 12 GHz band, but for other purposes. RS Access thinks they can all co-exist.
In a September 17 meeting with FCC staff, RS Access representatives reviewed the history of the proceeding and claimed to be the only party that has submitted detailed engineering and economic studies demonstrating that satellite and terrestrial 5G services can coexist “while unleashing tremendous social value.”
Its opponents, led by SpaceX, have provided “no science-based analysis or rebuttal of their own; they have instead offered rhetoric and misrepresentation that distract from the serious policymaking issues before the Commission,” RS Access CEO V. Noah Campbell wrote to the FCC.
Indeed, SpaceX has come out with guns blazing in recent FCC filings of its own, saying RS Access’ arguments are “fatally flawed” and demonstrate a “disturbing lack of understanding of how customers are actually served using the 12 GHz band.”
Even more troubling, according to SpaceX, is RS Access “callously concludes that the Commission should give DISH and RS Access new rights for free, even if such a donation would deny next-generation satellite broadband service to tens of thousands of otherwise unserved Americans across the country.”
