Most Broadband Details Submitted by Wireless Carriers Will Be Made Public
The FCC told T-Mobile, Verizon and other wireless carriers Wednesday it largely rejected their requests that the agency not release the data they were required to disclose on their propagation models and the link budgets they use for modeling cell-edge…
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network throughput, as part of the agency’s broadband data collection (see here and here). The Wireless Bureau said it required the disclosure of “(1) all applicable link-budgets used to design their networks and provide service at the defined speeds, and all parameters and parameter values included in those link budgets; (2) a description of how the carrier developed its link budget(s) and the rationale for using specific values in the link budget(s); and (3) the name of the creator, developer or supplier, as well as the vintage of the terrain and clutter datasets used, the specific resolution of the data (subject to the minimum requirements adopted in the Second Order), a list of clutter categories used, a description of each clutter category, and a description of the propagation loss due to clutter for each.” The bureau cited “a strong public interest in making the above-described information for which” the carrier “seeks confidential treatment available to the public.” But the bureau said “for the first public release” it won’t release providers’ link budget parameters rationale “because we find that the potential benefits of making” that information public “may not outweigh the potential harm in its disclosure, as filers may have disclosed inadvertently competitively sensitive information that will allow competitors or others to gain insight into filers’ internal business operations.” Identical letters went to Dish Wireless, Southern Linc, Central Louisiana Cellular, East Kentucky Network and other carriers, all posted in docket 19-195.