Globalstar's 5.1 GHz Interference Claims Not Seen Advancing Soon
Action on Globalstar asking the FCC to revisit allowing unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) devices to operate in the 5.1 GHz band, now 16 months old and counting, (see 1805220006) isn't expected soon. At the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), 5.1 GHz spectrum sharing is on the agenda.
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Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Brendan Carr told us after last week's monthly agency meeting they haven't had meetings on the proceeding and didn't know of any action forthcoming. An FCC official also told us he hadn't heard any talk about the petition, seeming to point to nothing coming soon from the International Bureau. Chairman Ajit Pai's office didn't comment Monday. Wireless interests argue Globalstar's petition for a notice of inquiry didn't make its case of harmful interference (see 1807240039).
The FCC will have to do something with the petition, because the interference is "real and documented," said Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder in an interview. That interference will grow as U-NII deployments do, he said. He said the company has seen the interference noise floor increase by 2 dB, well outside ITU parameters.
There's little chance the FCC will act on the petition before WRC-19, Ponder said. All the regional reporting organizations are reaching final decisions now on WRC agenda items, including 1.16, which involves wireless access systems in the bands between 5150 MHz and 5925 MHz, he said. That agenda item was referred to an ITU working party and studied for four years, and there was no agreement on outdoor use at any power limits, he said. The U.S. has been on its own with allowing unlimited unlicensed deployment in the band at higher power. He said regional organizations like the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity and the African Telecommunications Union don’t support the U.S. stance and have no position of their own. He said the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission has an inter-American proposal with support of some countries, but not at U.S. power limits.
Emailed Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at New America: It's "premature to re-open the question of potential harmful interference until the process in the rules for the band actually demonstrates that there is harmful interference." He said it's likely the FCC hasn't acted "on Globalstar’s attempt to re-litigate the merits of unlicensed sharing in the U-NII-1 band ... because nothing has changed and all indications are that both Wi-Fi and satellite use can coexist."