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The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes changes to the Commission's rules to enable Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) devices operating in the 1920-1930 MHz band (known as the UPCS band) to make more efficient use of this spectrum. This action is taken in response to a Petition for Rulemaking filed by the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications Forum (DECT), an association that promotes digital cordless radio technology for short-distance voice and data applications. The current rules prevent UPCS devices from accessing channels where a certain level of radio noise is detected, even though those channels remain usable. The proposed rule changes would adjust the radio noise level at which a channel would be deemed usable. The Report and Order modified part 15 of the rules governing the operation of Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) devices in the 1920-1930 MHz band (UPCS band) to promote more efficient use of the UPCS band and to facilitate the introduction of a new generation of unlicensed devices capable of supporting broadband connectivity using Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) technology. Specifically, the Commission eliminated the least-interfered channel monitoring threshold for UPCS devices and reduced the number of duplex system access channels that a UPCS device must define and monitor from 40 to 20 channels to use the least-interfered channel access method. These changes will provide UPCS devices, particularly those designed to transmit with wider bandwidths but that define fewer than 40 channels, access to more usable channels (for example, combined time and spectrum windows) than are permitted under the existing rules, and unleash innovative cordless broadband technologies in the UPCS band, while limiting the potential for causing interference to other devices. The Commission also modified the rules to remove outdated provisions and to make other minor updates.

The Order modified the rules governing the operation of Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) devices in the 1920-1930 MHz band (UPCS band) to reference the 2013 version of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C63.17 standard, Methods of Measurement of the Electromagnetic and Operational Compatibility of Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) Devices, ANSI C63.17-2013, by which UPCS devices must be measured for compliance with the technical requirements in part 15 subpart D of the Commission’s rule.