No Rules Needed To Protect Wi-Fi From LTE-U, CTIA Says
As it looks more closely at LTE-unlicensed, the FCC should refrain from rules that would slow the technology's potential growth, CTIA said in a Thursday filing. When the FCC approved an order on the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band, Chairman Tom Wheeler promised a public notice on LTE-U, also known as licensed assisted access (LAA), was on its way (see 1504170055). Comments on the resulting PN were due at Thursday in docket 15-105.
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Wi-Fi has a “vital role” to play but the industry itself should be able to “manage coexistence between unlicensed LTE, Wi-Fi, and other Part 15 operations,” CTIA said. “By maintaining its hands-off, technically neutral approach to the development of LTE technology under Part 15, the Commission will allow the wireless industry to deploy mobile broadband services that will deliver to consumers higher data rates, reduced network latency, and seamless transitions between unlicensed and licensed spectrum.” The FCC should reaffirm that “as long as an unlicensed technology satisfies the Commission’s Part 15 requirements, there is no need for further regulatory involvement beyond adopting minimal technical standards or requirements,” CTIA said.
NCTA issued a warning on LTE-U, saying it's being developed outside the normal collaborative process and could cause “debilitating interference on other unlicensed services unless they incorporate effective sharing mechanisms.” “NCTA supports the opening of a docket to address this unprecedented situation,” the cable association said in a filing that wasn't online. “It is important for the Commission to seek comments on the technical implications of these technologies for consumers, the state of standards-setting, and possible coexistence strategies. But the Commission must gather this information and act quickly either to ensure that the standards process produces effective sharing, or to explore regulatory options.” NCTA sought immediate FCC action, including the Office of Engineering and Technology convening a group to study and establish effective sharing mechanisms. The FCC also should ask for monthly reports from standard-setting groups looking at LTE-U, NCTA said.
Qualcomm, a leading proponent of LTE-U, said it's also heavily invested in Wi-Fi technology. There's no basis for the FCC to impose regulations at LTE-U to protect Wi-Fi, the company said. “Adding a neighboring LTE Unlicensed node does not impact an existing Wi-Fi node any more than would adding another Wi-Fi node,” Qualcomm said. “In fact, Qualcomm’s demos showed that replacing a Wi-Fi node with LTE-U improves the average throughput for nearby Wi-Fi users.” LTE-U draws from the world of cellular several attributes “crucial for successful wide scale deployments” of unlicensed systems, the company said. These include “uniformity of base station and device implementations, rigorous performance and conformance specifications, and certification procedures,” Qualcomm said.
Qualcomm again said it's developing a new version of LTE-U, MuLTEfire , which can be used on a stand-alone basis in unlicensed spectrum (see 1506100057). This mode uses the signals, channelization and other advanced features of LTE, and will “provide better performance than currently available unlicensed technologies,” but is less robust than other versions of LTE-U that use a licensed anchor channel, Qualcomm said.
The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said that many of the questions raised in the PN would be best left to the LTE-U Forum and its members. It said that's “because the contemplated technology and sharing algorithms are being developed by that group.”