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The Federal Communications Commission is usually enthusiastic about opening up additional spectrum for commercial use. Not in the case of the T-Band—which has long been used by public safety agencies in some major cities, but under a Congressional mandate, has to be auctioned off by February 2021.
FCC Chair Ajit Pai has repeatedly asked Congress to scuttle the so-called T-Band mandate, arguing that between the cost of moving users out of the band and the disruption to public safety communications, it’s not worth it. While there is bipartisan opposition to a T-Band auction and some legislation has been proposed that would include a repeal of the mandate, so far Congress hasn’t passed anything that lets the FCC off the hook for a T-Band auction. So the agency recently proposed rules (pdf) for the reallocation of the T-Band spectrum at 470-512 MHz…
