OmniAir Consortium, the leading industry association promoting interoperability and certification for ITS, tolling, and connected vehicles has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission in response to NextNav’s petition to reconfigure the lower 900 MHz band—spectrum essential to electronic toll collection across the United States.

OmniAir’s comments express serious concerns with NextNav’s petition for rulemaking, which calls for a reconfiguration of the 902-928 MHz band to support a 5G terrestrial positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) network, and the potential impact on incumbent electronic toll services. NextNav’s proposal would consolidate electronic toll operations into a single and smaller spectrum block than is currently available in the lower 900 MHz band.

“Electronic toll collection generates billions of dollars in revenue each year necessary for the support of critical transportation infrastructure projects across the United States,” said Jason Conley, Executive Director of OmniAir Consortium.  “It is not clear that electronic toll operations can successfully operate in a smaller spectrum footprint. In addition, any changes to the spectrum must be subject to thorough and independent testing to ensure that electronic tolling services are not disrupted by NextNav’s proposed operations in the lower 900 MHz band.”

OmniAir’s comments are available here.

About OmniAir Consortium

OmniAir Consortium is the leading industry association promoting interoperability and certification for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), tolling, and connected vehicles. OmniAir’s membership includes public agencies, private companies, research institutions, and independent test laboratories. Learn more about OmniAir at www.omniair.org.