FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at this point doesn’t appear to have th...
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at this point doesn’t appear to have three votes for his proposal to set aside 25 MHz or even 20 MHz of spectrum for a free national broadband network. FCC sources said Martin may be…
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hard pressed to line up the needed votes before the agency’s July 29 meeting. The August meeting is expected to take place a few days later, on Aug. 1. Various parties have raised issues the FCC hasn’t explored in depth, said an agency source. “There are novel issues that have not been commented on before… The mantra is, ‘What’s the big rush?'” Wireless carriers, handset makers, MSS operators and public interest groups have opposed the Martin free broadband plan. T-Mobile told the FCC in a recent filing it has sponsored tests of interference AWS-3 devices would cause for AWS-1 licensees. T-Mobile has spent $7 billion to build out its network using the spectrum it bought during 2006’s AWS-1 auction, the company said. “But T-Mobile’s ability to provide the high-quality broadband service that customers demand requires appropriate protections against harmful interference from the adjacent AWS-3 band.” M2Z, expected to pursue the band, is pressing the FCC to act before Aug. 14, reminding commissioners that they committed to take action within nine months of the notice rejecting the company’s earlier petition seeking the spectrum. “The potential for harmful interference between AWS-3 and AWS-1 is rare under a proper probabilistic analysis, easily avoided and limited (if it does occur),” M2Z said in a recent FCC filing.