Martin Still Lacks FCC Majority for Free Broadband Plan
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 hard pressed to line up the needed votes before the agency’s planned July 29 meeting. The August meeting is expected to take place a few days later, on Aug. 1.
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Various parties have raised issues the FCC hasn’t explored in depth, said an agency source. “If the consensus is to at least put this new stuff out for public comment, I'm not sure how you do that and have it wrapped up by July 29,” the person said. “There are novel issues that have not been commented on before… The mantra is, ‘What’s the big rush?’ Why don’t we get it right? What’s the difference between a July 29 vote and a September vote?”
Martin initially proposed that commissioners vote on or before the June 12 commission meeting on rules for the advanced wireless services 3 band, requiring the winner of the 2155 to 2180 MHz spectrum to use part of the capacity to offer a free, national network. The commission could vote electronically after the August meeting.
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. The tests were conducted at Boeing’s Seattle lab. Early results “demonstrated that even the use of different filters on AWS-1 handsets will not prevent harmful interference absent a significant guard band and other restrictions on AWS-3 power levels and out-of-band emissions,” T-Mobile said. The carrier invited FCC officials to observe the tests.
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 AWS 3 item started to circulate May 22.
“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. The AWS 3 licensee would have “incentive to cooperate” with carriers building out the AWS 1 spectrum, it said. “While AWS-1 licensees have a chance of experiencing mobile-to-mobile interference, the AWS-3 licensee faces a chance of base-to-base interference.”