Get White Spaces Rules Right for Band to Be of Maximum Use, CFA says
The FCC should approve TV white spaces rules that offer certainty and guarantee “assured access to adequate spectrum … on a long term basis” for the band to be commercially viable, the Communications Finance Association (CFA) said in an FCC filing. Numerous industry groups and companies trooped to the agency to make their final arguments on the order, before it was placed on the sunshine agenda Thursday night for the Sept. 23 meeting, cutting off further lobbying. Various parties made a total of more than 150 ex parte filings in 04-186, the main white spaces docket, last week alone.
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"Of almost equal importance” is release of technical standards that “assure those providers that their facilities and operations can be efficacious and reasonably free of interference,” CFA said. “Absent an ability to operate with adequate power, antenna heights, and other technical standards permitting reliable and affordable use, mere access to spectrum will be of little value to broadband providers.” The FCC needs to strike a balance between the needs of broadcasters and prospective providers of broadband services in the TV band, the group said.
Officials from Public Knowledge, the New America Foundation, Media Access and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association were at the FCC mainly to counter broadcaster arguments asking it to seek additional public notice on rules for a geolocation database and that the full commission approve the rules after comments are in. The Office of Engineering and Technology already “issued a Public Notice and provided adequate opportunity for notice and comment. Resolution of the pending database administration questions by OET on delegated authority would not violate the Administrative Procedure Act,” the groups said in an ex parte filing.
Google representatives asked the FCC not to make any changes to the rules that would impede the commercialization of white spaces devices, particularly in reaction to an argument by broadcasters that the devices should have to check the database as often as every 60 seconds. “Google stressed that any requirement that devices check the database more frequently will increase the costs and complexity of both [white spaces devices] and database management and, moreover, the record does not support extending additional protections to wireless microphones, particularly given their access to reserve channels,” the company said.
CBS and News Corp. representatives urged the FCC to set aside two channels in each market for use by wireless mics. “We also suggested that the Commission set aside a small portion of spectrum in each market for use on an unlicensed basis by smaller entities that only occasionally use a limited number of wireless microphones,” they said in a filing. The companies supported arguments by NAB and the Association for Maximum Service TV that white spaces devices should be required to consult the database frequently so their decision whether to use a channel is based on “near real-time information” in a market: “We stressed that this is vital to broadcasters’ ability to quickly deploy newsgathering teams, which rely on wireless microphones, to cover breaking news events."
FiberTower, Sprint Nextel, the Wireless Communications Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group held meetings at the commission to make a final push to get the FCC to incorporate their proposal that the agency set aside part of the white spaces for fixed, licensed use for wireless backhaul. “Otherwise, carriers serving many rural and tribal areas will continue to be unable afford the backhaul necessary to light broadband networks,” said an ex parte letter. The commission is expected to push a decision on that issue to a later date, FCC sources said last week.
Shared Spectrum Co. reassured the FCC that sensing will soon be a viable option as an alternative to the use of database. The company “disclosed that it will soon be testing software code for specialized … detectors that meet (or exceed) the Commission’s sensing requirements,” it said. “These inexpensive ATSC-DTV detector and wireless microphone detector software modules are designed to run on any [white space device’s] general purpose microprocessor.” The modules will work in combination with a geolocation database or on a stand-alone basis “to maximize both incumbent protection and available … bandwidth,” the company said. Shared Spectrum said depending on the final rules approved by the FCC, it expects to run field tests by the end of next month and make the modules available for shipment early next year.
The Wi-Fi Alliance sent the commission a letter, posted Friday, advising that it has initiated a “multi-vendor effort” to create a certification program for Wi-Fi devices that will operate in the white spaces band.