On March 1 and 2, APCO and other stakeholders met with representatives of the offices of Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel and Commissioners Carr and Starks to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to pause approval of new unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band until real-world testing is conducted to evaluate the risk of interference to public safety and critical infrastructure communications. As background, last year the FCC adopted rules to permit hundreds of millions of new unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band, which is heavily used by public safety agencies across the country. Since then, the FCC has approved several devices to begin operating in the band, despite evidence that they can cause harmful interference. APCO and others stated that real-world testing is necessary and reasonable before additional devices are introduced.
