FCC Expands Spectrum Licensing Rules

The FCC expanded the availability of spectrum leasing to more wireless services and devices, further streamlined the processing of spectrum lease applications and notifications, as well as traditional license transfers and assignments, and clarified certain aspects of the original spectrum leasing rules. The changes are aimed at expanding secondary market mechanisms to permit spectrum to flow more freely among users and uses in response to economic demand. Lease filings and transfer/assignment applications that meet new criteria will be eligible for overnight electronic processing, while transactions that do not meet these criteria will be subject to further review under specified timetables, or may be offlined for more detailed review if they raise potentially serious public interest issues.



The FCC also clarified that under existing spectrum leasing rules, parties may enter a variety of dynamic leasing arrangements, made increasingly possible by technological advances. For example, the Commission noted that licensees and lessees may by agreement share use of the same leased spectrum over the same period of time.



To facilitate further the use of advanced technologies, the Commission established a new regulatory option of "private commons" as part of its leasing rules. This option will be available to licensees who wish to provide spectrum access to individual users or groups of users that may not fit squarely within the current options for spectrum leasing or within traditional end-user arrangements. This might be attractive to users of advanced devices that are capable of dynamic spectrum access but do not necessarily require use of a licensee's network architecture. http://www.fcc.gov