The US regulator, the FCC, is determined to clear many major decisions before the election and potential change of government, which would almost certainly lead to a new FCC chief being appointed early next year. On the day of the election, November 4, the agency hopes to conduct several key votes ‘ on whether the white spaces within the broadcast spectrum can be used for open devices as proposed by Google and Microsoft; whether proposals on termination fees will be pushed through; and on the pending mergers of Verizon and Alltel, and Sprint Xohm and Clearwire. Also, there should be clarity on the auction rules for the AWS-3 spectrum, earmarked for an operator who would offer a national free broadband network, funded by advertising and premium services.
However, opposition is mounting to the white spaces and AWS-3 ideas, both of which FCC chair Kevin Martin sees as vital to addressing the still sorry state of low cost broadband availability in parts of the US ‘ as well as boosting competition and new services.
Indeed, on the white spaces front, it now seems likely that the FCC will reluctantly have to postpone the vote on plans to open up the spectrum on an unlicensed basis, subject to various anti-interference mechanisms being supported by device makers and providers. The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) issued a report earlier this month saying that white space devices with geolocation and sensing technologies could be used without interference to existing users such as broadcasters and wireless microphones.
The FCC may have to delay its decision anyway, after the National Association of Broadcasters filed an emergency petition, although FCC spokesman Rob Kenny did point out that the white space proceeding has been open for several years and there have been several rounds of testing, all open to the public for comment. The unused scraps of spectrum could provide between 300MHz and 400MHz of capacity for use without licenses, provided certain anti-interference mechanisms were supported by any equipment. Google, Microsoft, Philips and Motorola have led a large group of vendors in lobbying for this spectrum to be harnessed to increase low cost broadband availability and support disruptive new operators.
The National Association of Broadcasters has opposed using the buffer spectrum, saying that the use of white spaces will interfere with licensed broadcast channels.
There has also been angry response to another FCC engineering report, suggesting there was minimal risk of interference from devices in the AWS-3 band to adjacent AWS-1 spectrum, the largest chunk of which is held by T-Mobile, and is the basis of its current accelerating roll-out of 3G. The OET report said that the proposed AWS-3 free network (in 2155-2180MHz) would not interfere with AWS-1. However, T-Mobile said it had performed its own interference tests – identical to the FCC’s ‘ and claimed these revealed potential problems. T-Mobile recently reminded the FCC it has a legal obligation to protect AWS-1 licensees from potential interference so lawsuits seem highly likely even if the regulator pushes ahead with a vote soon, and passes the AWS-3 proposals.
While the main opposition to the plan has so far come from T-Mobile, now AT&T, Nokia and others have joined the debate. In a document signed by the two cellcos plus Nokia, Comcast, the CTIA, Ericsson, Motorola, Nortel, Qualcomm and US Cellular, the comments claim the 25MHz of AWS-3 spectrum, as currently designed, would cause significant interference with existing AWS-1 networks and would unfairly give the winning bidder an artificially low cost of entry. Start-up M2Z is one potential candidate for the license, and would fund its free access via advertising and premium services. It claims the objections are based on fear of a new entrant, not really on interference worries, an argument supported by the publication last week of FCC test results, showing minimal problems between the two AWS bands.
The petitioners argue that there the FCC’s tests were faulty, as they used incorrect variables in modeling assumptions, mistakes in logic regarding power levels and incorrect estimates of overload interference effects. The letter states: ‘When generally accepted engineering practices are utilized, it is clear that AWS-3 operations under the Commission’s proposed technical limits will cause significant and frequent harmful interference to millions of American consumers. With quality of mobile wireless service to so many consumers at risk, the Commission should not move forward with the proposed rules and instead should develop technical rules for the AWS-3 band that protect AWS-1,’ they wrote.
Finally, a public interest group has asked the FCC to impose open access conditions on the mergers of Verizon Wireless and Alltel, and of Sprint Xohm and Clearwire. Free Press said that, while Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have moved to loosen their control of networks, both companies still reserve the right to block third party devices and applications. AT&T has also called for closer scrutiny of the transactions, especially the Clearwire one, but the FCC aims to clear both on November 4. Both must also obtain clearance from the Department of Justice, which handles antitrust issues.