Don’t let big carriers wreck America’s most innovative spectrum band

Some of the nation’s largest cellular carriers and their allies are urging the Federal Communications Commission to dramatically raise power levels in the 3.5 GHz band, claiming that a new auction framework could unlock tens of billions for the Treasury. The FCC should reject this proposal outright.

My new technical analysis shows that the promised gains would come at a devastating cost to the over one thousand operators who depend on this band today. Significant impacts include a 1,000-fold degradation of throughput at American manufacturing facilities, the loss of nearly a third of network capacity at a major international airport, and repeated broadband outages in rural communities with no alternative means to gain internet access.