The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a wireless backhaul item that implements key recommendations of the National Broadband Plan. According to the FCC, it removes outdated regulatory barriers and releases additional spectrum for broadband services. The FCC also believes it will stimulate more opportunities for broadband deployment, particularly in rural areas of the U.S.

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“In some rural and remote locations, fixed microwave links may be the only practical option for backhaul,” said John Schauble, deputy division chief, Broadband Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at the FCC. “Finding new opportunities to use wireless backhaul, and ways to use it more effectively, will help to solve the broadband capacity puzzle as more Americans use smart phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices to browse the Web, use e-mail, and download applications wirelessly.”

The FCC’s Report & Order will make as much as 650 MHz available for wireless backhaul, especially in rural areas, by permitting fixed microwave links to operate in several bands previously reserved for specialized microwave services. It also will let microwave licensees use “adaptive modulation” so they can employ the latest technology to maintain the reliability of critical links. And, it allows broadcasters to use fixed microwave links more freely by eliminating the “final link rule.”

The item also includes a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks comment on further proposals for making microwave communications more flexible and cost-effective, such as allowing smaller antennas in certain microwave bands to prompt cost savings for licensees and allow more deployments of microwave facilities. Additional suggestions for comment include exempting licensees in non-congested areas from the FCC’s efficiency standards, which may make use of fixed microwave links more cost-effective in rural areas.  

“The FCC’s actions are pretty technical in nature, but they will help all Americans by making it easier to deploy infrastructure that is needed to support the mobile services that we all increasingly rely upon,” Schauble said.

For more on the item, go to http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0809/FCC-11-120A1.pdf.

Federal Communications Commission
www.fcc.gov