Statement of ITS America President & CEO Shailen Bhatt on FCC’s Plan for 5.9GHz Spectrum

Statements & Press Releases

Issues:

October 27, 2020

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai made clear today that the Commission intends to move forward with its plan to give away a majority of the 5.9 GHz safety spectrum that currently allows life-saving Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies to work without interference.

The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) has warned that reallocating the majority of the 5.9 GHz band without fully considering the effects on public safety is reckless. In fact, the definition of tragedy and irony is the FCC giving away the safety spectrum to ‘entrenched corporate interests’ to profit from and ignoring transportation safety experts from USDOT, all 50 state DOTs, MADD, the National Sheriffs’ Association, Families for Safe Streets, the International Association of Firefighters, the League of American Bicyclists, the National Safety Council, the National Transportation Safety Board, and dozens of additional organizations dedicated to safety on American roadways.

While we appreciate the need to allow CV2X in the band, it is extremely shortsighted and detrimental to the millions of people who travel on U.S. roads every day for the FCC to reallocate 45 MHz of spectrum from transportation safety to unlicensed devices such as wifi. ITS America intends to pursue all available avenues to protect public safety in communities across the country by preventing such action.

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The Intelligent Transportation Society of America advances the research and deployment of intelligent transportation technologies to save lives, improve mobility, promote sustainability, and increase efficiency and productivity. Our vision is a better future transformed by intelligent mobility: safer, greener, smarter. For more information, please visit www.itsa.org

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Statement of ITS America President & CEO Shailen Bhatt on FCC’s Plan for 5.9GHz Spectrum

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