Congress should oppose opening broadcast spectrum to portable unlicensed devices that would use the so-called “white spaces” in the broadcast spectrum, the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service TV said Wednesday in a letter to Congress (CD June 20 p6). Earlier, the White Spaces Coalition wrote to the members of Congress touting the merits of using white spaces. Unlicensed spectrum use poses a substantial risk of interference to broadcasts, the broadcast groups said, citing an FCC report. They noted that millions of U.S. households will rely on digital-to-analog converter boxes to get broadcasts over older TV sets, an arrangement that could be disrupted far more severely by interference than ordinary broadcasts. “FCC data indicates that digital television sets will be susceptible to interference from these devices in 80 to 87% of a typical television station’s service area,” the letter said: “Unlike an analog signal where interference will cause a gradual degradation of the picture, interference to a digital signal renders the television unwatchable. And the interference from unlicensed devices will not only affect television sets, but will also interfere with the digital-to-analog converter boxes that are necessary for the DTV transition to succeed.” Unlicensed devices would leave consumers defenseless, the groups said. “The FCC will have no record as to when or where such devices are operating,” the letter said: “Should interference occur, there is no way of determining if the interference is coming from a next door neighbor, a passing car or even within one’s own home.”
Wireline and wireless carriers want the FCC to hold off on decisions about foreign access to and storage of customer proprietary network information (CPNI) until it can build a complete record and consider all concerns. Companies and USTelecom have been at the FCC in recent weeks, reminding the agency that it last sought comments on the issue in 2002. “The record should be refreshed,” a Sprint Nextel spokesman said: “The FCC hasn’t sought industry comment for a couple of years. We wanted to express our views it’s best the commission not act on this particular issue before consider industry comments.”
A broad group of 29 executives at high-tech companies and public interest groups sent all members of Congress a letter asking for their support in opening broadcast “white spaces” for use in offering wireless broadband. Signers included companies like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, and public interest groups from the New America Foundation to the Consumer Federation of America. Supporters said they wanted to make clear to Congress before their upcoming recess the extent of support for opening white spaces.
Efforts to gather broadband deployment data are falling short, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) told the FCC, urging the commission to seek more detailed data. Inadequate data can spawn bad policy, the group said. Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America and Free Press agreed on the need for reform, with the FCC’s ZIP code-based approach coming in for heavy fire. Commenters took shots at Form 477, the commission’s main tool for data collection. Filings came as part of a broad FCC rulemaking also examining net neutrality requirements (CD June 18 p2).
Sprint Nextel easily will exceed 2.5 GHz buildout requirements set by the FCC as a condition of the companies’ 2005 merger, Sprint CTO Barry West said Thurs. WiMAX’s growing popularity will make devices that send and receive data wirelessly as ubiquitous as today’s cellphones, West told us. “The FCC wanted something they could put in [the merger order] that helped justify the merger… to the public at large. This was an easy give for us,” West said: “We don’t have to build out until 2009 and we don’t have to build out anything near the footprint that we're planning to build.”
FCC Comr. Adelstein is concerned about the pace of 800 MHz rebanding, as Sprint Nextel makes deals with public safety and other licensees in the band. The FCC also seems to be making little progress on roaming, a major issue for rural wireless carriers, Adelstein said Wed after a speech to the Wireless Communications Assn.
The wireless industry is girding for a fight on a DoJ bid to force wireless carriers to provide far more material on data transmissions targeted by law enforcement surveillance. In May, DoJ asked the FCC to launch a rulemaking under which carriers would have to provide significantly more data and certify that the information is reliable (CD May 18 p4).
The Supreme Court asked the solicitor general for the federal govt.’s views on Sprint Nextel v. NASUCA. That could be good news for carriers that hope to see the 11th U.S. Appeals Court, Atlanta, truth-in-billing (TIB) decision overturned. The high court often listens to views of the solicitor when considering whether to hear a case. The fight pits wireless carriers and the FCC against NASUCA and NARUC.
Qualcomm said it will join wireless carriers in asking the U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, to stay an International Trade Commission order banning import of new wireless handsets with Qualcomm chips held to infringe a Broadcom patent. Qualcomm also will ask President Bush to veto the decision, the company said. CTIA blasted the move as bad for consumers, saying it will slow 3G network rollouts. COMCARE and the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials said the order will hurt efforts to make 911 more accurate. ITC in a “split-the-baby decision” Thurs. said the ban will apply to future handset models (CD June 8 p8), but not those already being imported.
FCC Comr. McDowell, who has now been on the Commission over a year, said Thurs. he expects to participate on almost all items that come before the agency in the future. McDowell has had to abstain on many wireline issues because of his previous longtime job as lobbyist for CompTel. McDowell couldn’t participate last year in the AT&T-BellSouth merger, forcing Chmn. Martin into a deal with the Commission’s 2 Democrats.