Carrier Paper Makes Pitch for Rules Requiring Devices to Operate Across 700 MHz Band
The 700 MHz band “has reached a crucial juncture,” and the FCC needs to impose rules requiring that handsets operate across multiple parts of the band, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, MetroPCS and other carriers said in a paper filed at the commission by Wireless Strategies. The paper said support of a common band for the upper 700 MHz blocks won’t lead to interference issues that the FCC will have to address later.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Smaller carriers have lined up against AT&T and Verizon Wireless in a debate at the FCC over whether the commission needs to impose rules requiring that devices work across the 700 MHz band (CD May 5 p7). The Rural Telecommunications Group, the Rural Cellular Association, Cellular South, Xanadoo, Access Spectrum and Triad 700 also endorsed the paper.
"The possibility of multiple operating bands for 700 MHz threatens wireless competition, consumer flexibility, and the affordability of public safety wireless broadband devices, and is a marked departure from precedent in the US wireless industry,” the carriers said. “The balkanization of 700 MHz threatens the National Broadband Plan recommendation that Public Safety have the benefit of the entire 700 MHz to roam and the benefit of the economies of scale from having all like devices include the Public Safety band.” The paper rejected arguments against rules for the band. “Comments in the record cite interference concerns as the driving factor behind the 700 MHz band fragmentation,” the paper said. Analysis shows “that the interference concerns may be handled through typical network planning and coordination measures, and do not require unusual block-specific filtering by the devices.” Many technical criticisms of the proposal are “misleading, overblown or false,” the paper said.
The paper recommended that the FCC break the band into classes, one for the lower 700 MHz blocks and one for the upper 700 MHz blocks. “This arrangement produces no novel types of interference, and the licensees can readily solve any incremental concerns through the same tried-and-true interference-avoidance mechanisms, such as site selection, sector orientation, and antenna down tilt, already in widespread commercial use today,” the paper said. The paper also argued that the upper 700 MHz A block should be returned to the FCC and combined with the upper 700 MHz D block for auction to harmonize the upper 700 MHz D Block with other 700 MHz band channels.
"It is crucial for the FCC to promote interoperability and ensure that all devices are operational in all 700 MHz broadband blocks,” said RCA President Steve Berry. “Failure to do so will ultimately disappoint consumers and will threaten competition and innovation, which rural and regional companies depend on in order to survive.”