On April 7, 2026, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on a Qualcomm petition for rulemaking to allocate spectrum and establish service rules for a new communication service know as “Sidelink”. Sidelink is a technology that will allow 5G cellular devices to communicate device to device.
Qualcomm states this service has the potential to enhance public safety communications by allowing direct voice, video, and text service without needing network infrastructure. This could provide service when the network is down due to natural disasters or in remote areas where there is no cellular service.
Qualcomm asks for 5 MHz of spectrum within the 1675-1695 MHz band, and 40 MHz within the 5350-5470 MHz band. The petition proposes technical rules including power limits and Out of Band emission limits. They propose that public safety entities will have priority access to sidelink and access to non-public operations on a secondary basis to public safety users.
Comments are due May 7 and reply comments are due May 22.
The full FCC document can be found here: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-337A1.pdf or by searching for FCC DA 26-337.