RURAL WISPS ASK FCC TO PROVIDE MORE BANDS, HIGHER POWER LIMITS

Operators from more than a dozen WISPs outlined how they were using unlicensed bands at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and licensed bands such as PCS and MMDS to provide wireless broadband service to remote communities. The Commission has opened several rulemakings on how to improve rural wireless policies, including an inquiry last Dec. that asked whether changes were needed to promote more spectrum-based services in these areas. Last fall’s Spectrum Policy Task Force examined possible changes for rural areas, including the potential for letting spectrum users operate at higher power levels in less-congested areas if certain interference protection requirements were met. FCC Chmn. Powell cited the agency’s plans to complete a rulemaking to make more unlicensed spectrum available at 5 GHz and an Office of Engineering & Technology (OET) proposal on modified power limits and new technologies such as smart antennas. He said the rural WISP operators in the room embodied his goals for the agency: “You are facilities-based broadband providers competing in the marketplace taking advantage of our deregulatory spectrum policies.”

In response to a question from OET Chief Edmond Thomas on what steps the FCC could take in that area, Marlon Schafer of Odessa Office said he could see a need for higher power levels for unlicensed operations. “On the one side of the coin, I like the idea of higher power areas for rural areas,” said Schafer, whose office supply firm offers wireless broadband in the farm town of Odessa, Wash. “I could see a lot of abuse in that, though there are a number of players out there doing that anyway.” Access to “a lot more spectrum as a secondary user” is a significant need for rural WISPs, Schafer said. “What we need is more places to run to when there’s too many operators in one area. All the cellphone companies are doing this. All the utility companies are using this gear,” he said. “We need a bigger sandbox spectrum-wise. I think that’s the biggest hurdle we face.”

Several panelists said they could use higher power levels for operating in rural areas as long as interference wasn’t a problem. “Ideally, 64-watt dBI -- I'll ask for the moon and if I got half of it I would be okay,” said Douglas Campbell, CEO of AMA TechTel. Another challenge is that much of the unlicensed spectrum that WISPs are using today can’t be used outdoors, Schafer said, citing 5.1 GHz, 5.2 GHz, 5.3 GHz and new spectrum the FCC plans to allocate higher in the 5 GHz band. New spectrum at 5 GHz could be used at very low power levels in relatively short ranges outdoors, which Schafer said was useful for densely populated urban markets but didn’t help rural WISPs.

Some govt. agencies don’t view unlicensed spectrum use in the same light as the FCC, said James Pace, owner of west central Idaho WISP Strategic Information Services. He said he hadn’t been able to sell wireless Internet services to the U.S. Forest Service because that agency’s policy didn’t allow its data traffic to be carried over a wireless connection. “When there’s a fire out there, that fire box can’t use a laptop to download a satellite image because there’s no infrastructure to do it,” he said: “The government can buy satellite phones. But my own ranger district is frustrated because they can’t buy service from me.” In other areas, Pace said the Forest Service’s licensing fees for towers on its property didn’t provide a tiered structure to take into account operators who were smaller than larger cellular carriers.

Several participants urged the FCC to find ways to make licensed spectrum that was lying fallow in rural areas available for operators who would put it to use. “There is a lot of licensed spectrum that is not being utilized. People have spent the money on it, whether that is to keep out competition, who knows,” said AMA TechTel’s Campbell. Evertek Gen. Mgr. Roxanne White agreed: “I would like to see those frequencies be made available to companies like us that have used our licensed frequencies.” Among the bands that Evertek uses to provide wireless broadband services is MMDS spectrum.

One of the biggest challenges in Alaska is the cost of bandwidth, particularly for getting connectivity to the lower 48 states, said Michael Butler, pres. of Digital Health Exchange, which owns Alaska-based Ice Communications. One DS-3 circuit to connect Ketchikan and Juneau costs $50,000 per month, which is the cost of an OC-3 connection that provides nationwide access, he said. In the Alaskan communities that Ice serves, Butler said most small ISPs had sold out to larger companies. “The number one challenge is the cost of bandwidth,” he said.

Adelstein suggested the possibility of taking another rural WISP workshop on the road, noting that many of the participants came from long distances to attend Tues.’s event. “We need to look at power levels that we have out in rural areas -- can they be different and how much power is acceptable,” he said. “We need to look at spectrum band plans and other areas to see if there are opportunities for us to enable you to expand your deployments.” In other areas, OET’s Thomas said that the FCC had an open item on the use of so-called “white spaces” in the TV band that would help rural areas where some of that spectrum was underutilized and could be put to other uses.

Some participants raised concerns about restrictive local siting ordinances, although several said their rural WISP gained a right-of-way to site an antenna on a public building when they signed a partnership agreement with a local govt. that in some cases involved free library or police dept. access. Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said there was a balance between “a legitimate local interest in zoning issues and then there is a greater of federal interest in making sure that those regulations don’t get in the way of deploying spectrum services. It is a balancing act.” Thomas said the agency also was “actively investigating” its over- the-air device rules to make a recommendation to the Commission on whether some of those rules were applicable in this area. “That’s still a work in progress,” he said.