The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) has released a Memorandum Opinion and Order addressing seven petitions for reconsideration of its First Report and Order revising its rules for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices. The FCC modified its rules to provide a
relaxation of the out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits for operation of U-NII-3 (5.725-5.85 GHz) band
devices. It also provided an alternative for manufacturers that require additional time to bring their U-NII-3 band devices into compliance with the new out-of-band limits. The deadline for certification of U-NII-3 band devices with more than 10dBi antenna gain has been extended to March 2, 2017. The deadline for the manufacture, marketing, sale and importation of these devices has been extended until March 2, 2018. For devices with antenna gain of 10 dBi or less, the Commission implemented a new certification deadline of March 2, 2018, and extended the deadline for the manufacture, marketing, sale and importation of devices not meeting the modified out-of-band limits until March 2, 2020.
The Commission declined to adopt rules in response to some petitions that would remove restricted band protections from emissions produced by U-NII-1 (5.15-5.25 GHz) band devices or would permit U-NII-1 client devices to operate with higher emissions and declined to reduce the upper U-NII-3 band edge from 5.85 to 5.825 GHz.
