Parts of 3.5 GHz Shared Spectrum Order Dividing Industry
CTIA and the Satellite Industry Association clashed on protections for satellite operators in the 3.5 GHz band as the band is converted to a shared use regime. The commission approved an order creating the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3550-3700 MHz band at its April meeting, but parts are still being debated (see 1504170055). In the latest development, various commenters offered their take on petitions for reconsideration challenging aspects of the agency’s rules. Comments were posted Friday in docket 12-354.
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CTIA said most commenters support its proposal for revised out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits for 20-MHz-wide channels and less-restrictive power levels. Those and a few other tweaks are necessary to make deployment in the spectrum “economically viable” and will set the CBRS "on a better path towards meaningful investment, innovation, and deployment,” CTIA said.
SIA proposals for even more restrictions in the band would mean less investment, CTIA said. SIA seeks “overly strict emission limits and power levels that, if adopted, would apply across the country, even where no FSS earth stations exist,” the association said. The limits SIA seeks are “unnecessary and overbroad and would severely undercut the utility” of the band, CTIA said.
But SIA responded: “The SIA Petition makes clear that the OOBE limits adopted by the Commission threaten critical satellite services and were implemented without the required legal notice. SIA’s outside engineering analysis quantifies the impact, showing that separation distances given these less stringent OOBE limits must be substantially greater, up to more than 15 km.”
Even CTIA member Verizon indirectly supported SIA in a recent filing, the satellite association said. A filing by Verizon confirms SIA claims, “suggesting that [fixed satellite service] operations will be harmed only if separation distances are inadequate, and that the FCC can account for that risk by increasing protection distances in the upper portion of the 3.5 GHz band,” SIA said. “This is exactly SIA’s point: that the Commission’s decision to loosen the OOBE limits necessarily requires larger separation distances to ensure FSS systems are not disrupted.”
NAB filed in favor of its own recon petition, suggesting the FCC drop a provision allowing the location of 3.5 GHz devices to be determined by a “professional installer” rather than by automated geolocation capability built into the device. “NAB has no wish to impede unlicensed operations in the 3.5 GHz band,” NAB said. “Rather, NAB has urged the Commission to establish a regime that will allow unlicensed operations to flourish while preventing harmful interference as a result of foreseeable human error or abuse.” NAB’s arguments tie back to its complaints about the FCC’s TV white spaces database (see 1503190056).
The Utilities Telecom Council supported Motorola Solutions' recon petition. Motorola was right to urge that companies be allowed to obtain priority access licenses (PALs) in a given area even if those entities are the sole applicant for the PAL in those areas, UTC said. “Critical infrastructure industries including utilities may have an interest in obtaining PALs in order to ensure quality of service and reliable communications."