FCC, Industry Complain of Proposed FAA Filing Burdens
The FCC, the CTIA, the Wireless Communications Assn., NAB and others warned of a huge burden on industry if the FAA imposes regulations requiring notice to the agency by anyone modifying a radio transmitter in a number of bands, including 2.5 GHz, a crucial band for wireless broadband.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The regulations -- proposed to protect aviation safety - - would require 60-day notice to the FCC before a simple adjustment on a cell tower or installation of a wireless broadband transmitter, various filers warned the FAA. Licensees in the 2.5-2.7 GHz, 5-5.6 GHz and 21.2-23.6 GHz ranges would be required to make the filings. Sources said Mon. the FCC wasn’t happy with the FAA for proposing the requirements without consulting the Commission first.
The FCC cited the example of the fixed satellite service. The Commission issues licenses each authorizing 100,000 or more antennas. “There are well over a million of these small satellite Earth station antennas in current use,” the FCC warned. “If the FAA were to require filings for each of the antennas in the 14.2-14.4 GHz satellite Earth station band (which are found on top of gas stations, banks, office buildings, homes, etc.), there could be in excess of 1,000,000 filings per year.”
The CTIA told the FAA it had “significantly underestimated the number of submissions” that would be required under the regulation. “It appears that the FAA fails to consider the vast number of licensees and licenses impacted by the proposed modifications, as well as the realities of what these filers will face when submitting notices,” CTIA said.
CTIA suggested that the FAA may not completely understand the implications of the proposal. “The proposed requirements appear to contemplate that any change in operating frequency would require a new filing,” the group said. “Commercial wireless networks, such as those planned for the 2.5 GHz band, dynamically shift and change frequencies throughout their networks every day.” If the FAA really wants to require a filing for every modification, “license holders would be subjected to extraordinary filing requirements that could amount to thousands of filings each day.”
WCA told the FAA that transmitters have been operating on the 2.5 GHz band since 1963, with no evidence of a risk to flights. “The American public’s stake in this matter is very high,” WCA said. “If adopted, the proposed information collection requirements would slow wireless broadband service in the 2.5 GHz band to a snail’s pace by forcing wireless service providers to file and re-file, and the FAA to process and re-process, tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of notices of construction.”
NAB also warned of a “severe” financial burden that would be faced by the 14,000 FM stations and 3,200 VHF TV stations in the U.S., which often change their systems. The FAA should be prepared to add staff just to keep up. “Clearly, the FAA will need to expend significant additional resources in order to ensure timely review and analysis of these notifications,” NAB said: “Whether the agency reassigns personnel from other tasks or hires new employees, there is sure to be a substantial cost.”
Sprint Nextel questioned why the FAA even wants to collect the data from carriers and other transmitter owners. “The FAA has not explained what it intends to do with the information it requests and has offered no evaluative criteria by which it intends to ensure electromagnetic protection of aircraft and airports,” Sprint said. “The FAA does not explain how it will detect interference or whether it actually needs the information that it requests to do so.”