6/9 FCC Opposition to Petition for Stay on the 5.9 GHz Band Order

New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge (OTI and PK) filed an Opposition to a Petition for Stay from the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) that requested the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) halt its progress opening up 45 megahertz in the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use to bolster Wi-Fi services as adopted in the 5.9 GHz Report & Order. OTI and PK urged the FCC to reject the Petition for Stay due to the fact that 5GAA failed to provide any material or substantive new information that was not already considered by the FCC during the lengthy comment and reply comment period of the proceeding. Additionally, the concerns raised by 5GAA have been deemed to be insufficient by several studies and the FCC's expert analysis. Further, halting the progress in the 5.9 GHz band would harm the public interest by restricting access to urgently-needed added capacity for increasingly-congested Wi-Fi bands.

An introduction and conclusion are available below:

INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY

Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute oppose the 5G Automotive Association’s Petition for Stay (“Petition for Stay”)1 of the First Report and Order (“Order”)2 in the above captioned proceeding. The Commission should deny the 5G Automotive Association’s (“5GAA”) request because the Petition for to Stay is unlikely to succeed on the merits; 5GAA cannot point to any irreparable harm requiring a stay; and the public interest strongly favors permitting unlicensed use in the band as soon as possible.

CONCLUSION

The Commission should not grant 5GAA’s Petition for Stay because none of the Jobbers factors weigh in its favor. First, 5GAA’s Petition for Reconsideration is unlikely to succeed on the merits because 5GAA relies on impermissible new facts and arguments that it could have easily presented prior to the Commission’s issuance of the Order. Second, 5GAA’s claims that the Order will cause irreparable harm are speculative at best as automakers have not yet adopted C-V2X technology in any meaningful way. Third, granting a stay would harm other interested parties as it will interrupt plans that are already underway to roll out new unlicensed technologies and will disrupt the STAs the Commission has already granted within the 5.9 GHz band. Finally, 5GAA fails to address the numerous public interest benefits of quickly opening up the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use that the Commission outlined in the NPRM and the Report and Order. Because these factors all weigh against granting a stay, the Commission should deny 5GAA’s Petition for Stay.