After wrestling with the issue for several months, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly has proposed a significant compromise to resolve licensing issues in the 3.5 GHz band: to issue spectrum licenses in the band on a county-by-county basis rather than the smaller “Census Tract” areas sought by wireless internet service providers (“WISPs”) or the larger “Partial Economic Areas” sought by the mobile industry. Though it’s unlikely to fully satisfy anyone, the compromise proposal appears to be a workable, good-faith effort to balance competing demands for use of this valuable spectrum resource.

The controversy stems from the 3.5 GHz band’s utility for different use cases. The band has been internationally harmonized for the deployment of fifth-generation mobile technologies (“5G”), and the U.S. mobile industry wants to deploy 5G networks using 3.5 GHz spectrum. At the same time, WISPs in the U.S. want to use this spectrum to provide fixed wireless broadband connectivity to homes and businesses in rural and suburban areas.

The previous FCC decided to license the spectrum using “Census Tracts,” which often consist of a couple city blocks, based on its views regarding the the development of the market at that time. Licensing by Census Tracts is a novel approach that supports the business case for many WISPs but is incompatible with mobile network deployments in urban areas (which also happens to be where mobile providers lack adequate spectrum for new 5G services). When the race for 5G leadership started heating up, the current FCC asked whether it should change its licensing scheme from Census Tracts to “Partial Economic Areas,” which typically include several U.S. counties each. The FCC has a proven track record of success with offering multi-county spectrum licenses to mobile providers, but lacks any experience with licensing spectrum on the basis of Census Tracts.