WASHINGTON—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied an emergency motion to stay the FCC’s decision to open the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi.
The FCC passed an order in April to open the 6 GHz band, which is primarily used by broadcasters, telecoms and utility companies. While those incumbents are not opposed to expanding Wi-Fi, their concern is primarily that there are not enough protections in place to protect from potential interference from new spectrum users.
The specific case that was heard by the D.C. Circuit Court had AT&T serving as the petitioner seeking the stay against the FCC.
However, though the court did not grant the emergency stay, it will still hear the underlying challenges of telecoms, public safety officials and utilities to the FCC order. The parties have been granted 30 days to submit a joint proposal for filing briefs in the case.
In response to the court’s decision, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted that the decision was “Great news for consumers, who stand to benefit from super-fast, #Wifi6/#Wifi6E services in the home and on the go.”
Breaking news: the D.C. Circuit has rejected a request to stay the @FCC's decision to free up the 6 GHz band for unlicensed services like #WiFI. Great news for consumers, who stand to benefit from super-fast, #Wifi6/#Wifi6E services in the home and on the go! pic.twitter.com/LZ4IBSAFo3October 1, 2020
According to TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News, the FCC denied petitions made directly to them about staying the opening of the entire 6 GHz band in August.
