WISPs URGED TO REACH VOLUNTARY STANDARDS AGREEMENTS

Scrime cited unlicensed national information infrastructure (UNII) spectrum at 5 GHz as “one of a class of frequencies that I think your industry is going to need to begin to focus on.” He cited attention received by possible global harmonization for wireless access systems at 5 GHz. FCC rules now allow radio LAN and fixed wireless access devices to operate on noninterference, nonprotection basis at 5150-5350 MHz and 5725-5825 MHz. While U.S. industry has sought global harmonization of 5 GHz as unlicensed wireless services fill up 2.4 GHz band, NTIA has raised concerns about interference potential to spaceborne active sensors (CD June 28 p4). Scrime said he still was evaluating concerns of incumbents such as Defense Dept. He said that among questions about potential harmonization in that band were: “Do we need more spectrum in this range, can we align the lower blocks that have been allocated in the U.S. and add to them the upper blocks that have been allocated in European circles and if we do, can you use it?” Scrime said spread spectrum devices took 17 years to reach their peak, so another question about 5 GHz band would be what would happen if additional spectrum was made available to harmonize U.S. decisions with other parts of world: “The question is, can you use it all, and if it takes 15 or 20 years to develop, is it worth some of the questions about what it might do to systems in our national defense interest?” He said those were kinds of questions that policy-makers still were wrestling with leading up to next World Radio Conference in 2003.

“Industry shouldn’t wait around for the FCC to set rules and to set standards but you all should cooperate among yourselves to set the standards. That way you can have more control over your own fate,” Washington attorney Stephen Coran said. He said unlicensed wireless operators had same potential opportunity as the film industry, which reached voluntary agreement on a ratings system and preempted govt. regulation. “This is the best way to keep government out and that is for you to agree on interference standards, market- to-market interference standards, technical standards and so forth,” Coran said. Several speakers cited extent to which players such as WorldCom, which owns significant amount of MMDS spectrum, were expected to exit market, putting into play licenses for which FCC last year granted flexibility to provide mobile service. Coran said effort was under way among MMDS and Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) providers to come up with proposal at FCC to streamline regulations for those services, in part by finding way to get rid of interleaving between educators and MMDS licensees. Point would be to develop high-powered band surrounded by guard bands so video operations could exist but with low- power signals around them at upper and lower parts of the band that would allow for TDD and FDD transmissions, he said. Industry is expected to file petition for rulemaking at FCC in Sept. in request for revamping of rules to make them more flexible for fixed, mobile and portable high-speed wireless Internet services, Coran said.

In last few years, some WISPs have rolled out “combination systems” using unlicensed and licensed spectrum to get interference protection of MMDS rules at 2.5 GHz and flexibility of unlicensed regulations at 2.4 GHz, he said. Coran said he saw FCC as providing flexibility on build-out requirements of MMDS licenses because agency is in the midst of working on proposed service rules to allow operators to take advantage of FCC decision last year to put mobile, not just fixed, wireless operations in MMDS. “They are going to give the industry a chance to promote investment,” he said. “I think WorldCom and Sprint are not long for the industry and I think BellSouth and NuCentrix are similar.” Coran said that left question of who would be next player in market. One question, he said, is whether large wireless player such as Verizon Wireless or Cingular would pursue that spectrum or whether it would be divided among multiple parties. “The point is, I think if it is re-offered as a national footprint, there are 180 MHz of really nice spectrum,” he said. The spectrum is potentially more valuable, however, if there are rule changes that add flexibility to current regime for MMDS and ITFS, Coran said.

Other FCC proceedings on which WISPs should remain focused include upcoming rural spectrum notice of inquiry at FCC, said Donald Herman, assoc. attorney with law firm of Bennet & Bennet. FCC has pledged to release by year-end Notice of Inquiry on rural wireless spectrum, “including, and especially, unlicensed bands,” he said. In other areas, Herman said there appeared to be “some disagreement” over circumstances under which Form 477 has to be filed, which informs FCC of unlicensed or any other broadband operator’s number of users. Herman said next form was due Sept. 1 and his interpretation was that requirement applied to operators with more than 250 subscribers, including WISPs. He also said Commission now was seeking comments on proposal by WorldCom and AT&T that would affect how payments were made into universal service fund. Proposal would cover entities that had connections into public switched telephone network, requiring them to pay into fund on per-subscriber or per- connection basis, he said. “So we are talking about the possibility for ISPs to pay a significant amount of money whereas some of them aren’t paying anything now,” Herman said.