T-Mobile Preparing to Test Commercial Mobile Broadband at 1755-1780 MHz

On August 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took an important step in making additional commercial broadband spectrum available by granting T-Mobile USA’s request for special temporary authority (STA) to test the suitability of mobile broadband services in the 1755-1780 MHz band.

The wireless industry is unified in its position that this spectrum, which is used around the world for commercial mobile services and is immediately adjacent to already deployed AWS spectrum in the U.S., is a good candidate to convert to commercial purposes. T-Mobile anticipates the testing, as a part of a joint industry-government effort, along with monitoring existing government uses in the band and other analyses, will demonstrate that this spectrum can be made available for commercial mobile Long Term Evolution (LTE) services and that these services can share the band through an extended transition period, if not indefinitely, with existing federal uses that will either take too long or be too costly to relocate.