Improving Public Safety Communications in the 4.9 GHz Band

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopts rules establishing a comprehensive and coordinated nationwide approach to managing the 4.9 GHz (4940-4990 MHz) band while retaining its locally controlled, public safety nature. In doing so, the Commission solidifies the band's status as public safety spectrum, while also allowing secondary, non-public safety use as agreed to by public safety licensees through a new leasing model. This Report and Order adopts rules permitting a nationwide Band Manager, which will be selected based on its expertise and connections to the public safety community, to coordinate all operations in the band ensuring that any non-public safety use remains fully secondary to, and preemptible by, public safety operations. Furthermore, these new rules will optimize public safety use and enable the integration of the latest commercially available technologies, such as 5G. This Report and Order released on January 18, 2023, was corrected by an erratum released on February 22, 2023. The changes made by the erratum are included in this document.