WIRELESS DEVELOPERS SEEK FLEXIBLE RULES ON IN-FLIGHT BROADBAND

A proposal adopted by the FCC in April re-examined its rules for air-ground services on commercial airlines. Comments were due this week. The proposal would eliminate certain Part 22 Public Mobile Services (PMS) rules that have become obsolete and change others. The proposal sought feedback on rules the Commission said could impede the competitive provision of commercial air-to-ground services.

Qualcomm said there was a “substantial need” for the FCC to allocate at least 60 MHz of dedicated, paired spectrum below 6 GHz to provide “3G-like” broadband data and voice services to airborne users. It said several airlines had expressed interest and consumer demand was very strong. The current allocation of just 4 MHz at 849-851 and 894-896 MHz is “woefully insufficient and is subject overly intrusive technical rules,” it said. “For a licensee to provide broadband data and voice services nationwide with sufficient capacity to serve what is likely to be a growing number of subscribers requires much more spectrum than 4 MHz,” Qualcomm said. It argued for channels wider than the 6 KHz channels now in the FCC service rules for air-to-ground services at 800 MHz. Qualcomm said technology for onboard Internet surfing now under consideration by airlines was “extremely limited.” They included satellite-based technology, an enhanced version of Verizon Airfone’s air-to-ground service and Bluetooth or 802.11 unlicensed technology. Qualcomm said the latter wasn’t yet part of most wireless handsets and “could cause harmful interference.”

Verizon Airfone said the limited amount of air-ground spectrum allocated at 800 MHz and current technical restrictions made it impossible for it to provide broadband services in-flight. The FCC’s rules now require that licensees share the allotted air-ground spectrum, without exclusive access for one licensee. They also restrict air- ground licensees to using narrowband technologies that allow voice and low-speed data services but not broadband. Verizon Airfone said 6 licenses initially were made available in that 800 MHz band but that it was the only provider remaining in that spectrum. It also said competition was developing for in-flight broadband services, including Boeing’s Connexion service, which Verizon Airfone said it expected eventually would allow Wi-Fi enabled devices. “The Commission should modify its rules to permit Verizon Airfone to offer a broadband communications service,” it said. “The recent adoption of wireless access points, the maturing of packet voice technologies and robust spectrum-efficient wireless data networks provide the opportunity to finally extend ground-based technologies to the air at competitive prices.”

The FCC should adopt an “exclusive use” licensing scheme for air-ground spectrum at 800 MHz to support broadband rollout, Verizon Airfone said. As the remaining operator at 800 MHz for air-ground services, it said it had the “de facto ability” to use all 4 MHz of allocated spectrum. It cited several reasons the FCC should give it “regulatory exclusivity,” including the extent to which it needed assurance that it would be able to use the spectrum it needed for broadband rollouts.

Numerous commenters urged the FCC to retain the ban on airborne use of cellphones to protect terrestrial cellular networks from harmful interference. Qualcomm called for expansion of that prohibition to PCS phones. “The Commission should review its rules to ensure that all personal electronic devices brought onto airplanes do not cause harmful interference to terrestrial wireless networks operating on licensed spectrum,” it said. Cingular Wireless cited tests by V-Comm on behalf of it, AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless, saying they showed airborne transmissions in the cellular band could cause “widespread” disruption to terrestrial communications. Those carriers have argued against the planned airborne wireless service of AirCell as violating Commission rules. AirCell has an experimental license and waiver to operate a system using cellular equipment to provide service to airborne customers without causing interference to cellular systems. “Airborne transmissions from ordinary cellphones would have none of the technical safeguards employed by the AirCell phones and would therefore have a greater potential for interference,” Cingular said. “There is also evidence that avionics are affected by cellphone use aboard airplanes and a study is under way regarding the extent of such effects,” it said.

Verizon Wireless said the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking cited technological developments that could ease the in-flight use of cellular equipment on aircraft without causing interference to terrestrial cellular operations or posing aeronautical risks. But it opposed repealing or modifying the airborne cellular ban. “While Verizon Wireless understands the Commission’s desire to expand air-ground services, it must be careful not to do so in a manner that will degrade the service that 140 million plus CMRS subscribers depend on,” it said. Airborne cellular transmissions will be received by multiple cellular base stations on the ground, creating harmful interference, the filing said.

Cingular said the FCC should revisit its commercial air- to-ground service rules because there was only one licensee using spectrum meant for numerous providers. It said the rules for commercial air-to-ground service should: (1) Be flexible enough to allow the use of the 800 MHz air-ground band for the air-ground service now using cellular spectrum under waivers. (2) Allow licensees to launch new technology. (3) Locate all commercial air-ground service in the 800 MHz band dedicated for that service. (4) Realign the 800 MHz uplink and downlink bands in line with other 800 MHz services.

AirCell asked the FCC to: (1) Keep intact the air-to- ground band at 800 MHz for exclusive air-ground use. (2) Continue to explore options for increasing flexibility in the band without taking steps that would lead to “entrenchment” of the current incumbent. (3) Modify its Sec. 22 rules to allow airborne use of “noninterfering” cellular handsets. In the 800 MHz air-to-ground spectrum, AirCell said that because most licensees had left the market, 60% of commercial aircraft didn’t have air-ground communications services for passengers. The remaining provider, Verizon Airfone, is a “monopoly provider, with current pricing leading to low utilization rates by the flying public,” AirCell said. “The spectrum clearly is not being used efficiently.”