Rules for WCS Service Must Be Changed to Guarantee Buildout, AT&T Says
The FCC acted in “injudicious haste” in adopting new Wireless Communications Service rules “without an adequate record to support its performance requirements,” AT&T said in a petition at the FCC, seeking partial reconsideration of a May 20 order. The WCS Coalition filed in support of the carrier. The FCC approved the order as the first step toward the National Broadband Plan’s goal of freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum over 10 years for wireless broadband(CD May 21 p5).
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Parts of the rules “will relegate 2.3 GHz WCS broadband service to a ’second-class’ status, unable to deliver the performance provided by other wireless bands and expected by consumers,” AT&T said. The commission adopted the rules only eight weeks after seeking comment, the carrier noted: “This breakneck pace limited the ability of the parties to appreciate fully the implications of the proposals or to take into account the changing technology suitable for the band.” AT&T took issue with approval of a power spectral density limit for mobile transmitters, which it said was not supported by the record in the WCS proceeding. “Mobile wireless technology has not been designed to account for PSD limits on mobile transmitters,” AT&T said. “Trying to graft such a limit onto current and forecast technologies and networks will require a dramatic increase in the number of cells (while, at the same time, likely leaving a significant number of coverage holes).”
Restrictions on outdoor antennas “are unwarranted” where licensees use equipment that meets former out-of-band-emissions standards, AT&T said. It said the commission should also delay deadlines for build out of networks using the spectrum while carriers adopt LTE. “LTE technology is at least an equal, if not a better, choice than the WiMAX technology on which the Commission focused as it developed the new rules,” the petition said. “Because of the timing cycle for LTE standards development, an LTE standard for WCS cannot be developed before June 2012. Since equipment will not be available until 18 months thereafter, licensees will not be able to use LTE and meet the performance requirements unless the Commission extends its timelines."
Rules requiring operators to give up licenses if they don’t meet build-out deadlines will have a chilling effect on deployment, creating uncertainty, AT&T warned. “This uncertainty will make it difficult, if not impossible, for smaller licensees to raise the capital necessary to deploy mobile broadband WCS networks,” the carrier said. “Even for larger licensees, this uncertainty raises serious questions about the wisdom of expending capital to build facilities that may not be sufficient to ensure renewal.”
While the order “struck appropriate balances in revising the rules” governing satellite Digital Audio Radio Service and WCS operations in the 2.3 GHz band, “certain decisions must be revisited,” for WCS to be a viable service, the WCS Coalition said. “The petition for reconsideration being filed today by AT&T demonstrates that the newly-adopted WCS performance benchmarks do not provide sufficient time to satisfy the penetration requirements,” the group said. “AT&T establishes that it will take until July 2017 to satisfy the 40 percent coverage benchmark, and until July 2020 to satisfy the 75 percent coverage benchmark. The WCS Coalition agrees with AT&T.” The FCC was also wrong to impose a “death penalty” on WCS licensees that fail to satisfy performance benchmarks, the group said: “On reconsideration, the Commission should apply a ‘keep what you use’ policy to WCS licensees that do not achieve performance benchmarks.”