Fight Follows Old Lines as Sides Square Off on White Spaces Reconsideration Petitions

The rules should not throw up roadblocks that make use of the spectrum more difficult, high tech companies said. NAB and the Association for Maximum Service TV fired back: “In sum, the various petitions for reconsideration present the Commission with a clear choice between, on the one hand, efficient but prudent spectrum management, and, on the other hand, permissive policies that disregard destructive, harmful interference to licensed services.”

Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, said last week the agency is prepared to address all of the arguments made in the reconsideration petitions. While the commission has to address 18 petitions “this is a very complicated, complex proceeding with a lot of interest and a lot of different constituencies … so I really don’t think that’s too bad of a number,” Keltz said during a Wireless Communications Association conference. “We are encouraged by what we're seeing,” he added. “We are seeing folks who are interested in developing technologies. Although maybe the dream of where this can go is 20 years off or so, you're got to start somewhere … We've tried to provide opportunities but be prudent.”

There were few surprises in the filings, which reflected long-standing positions by the companies and groups that filed oppositions, most of whom were active in the fight over the FCC’s original order. The two sides don’t even agree on the name for a new generation of devices that would use the white spaces. Google and other proponents call them white spaces devices (WSDs). Broadcasters use a term that emphasizes the devices are intruders in their band, calling them TV band devices (TVBDs).

Among comments of note, Google, a leading advocate of opening the white spaces, said the FCC should do as six reconsideration petitions asked and eliminate a wireless microphone spectrum sensing requirement for devices that only turn on when a geolocation data base shows a channel is clear. The requirement is “overprotective and will significantly undermine the viability and promise of innovative TV White Spaces services,” Google said. “The addition of spectrum sensing as a ‘back-up’ to other protections will achieve no additional measurable benefit.”

Google said the FCC should reject petitions seeking additional protections for incumbents of the TV band, such as a request by wireless microphone maker Shure that the regulator prohibit first adjacent channel operation above channel 21. “Unfortunately, groups that have long opposed opening up the TV White Spaces continue to seek to stall or derail this technology, by asking the Commission to rewrite its rules to impose unnecessary regulations that would delay deployment, discourage investment, and cause [white spaces device] use to be inefficient and impractical,” Google said.

Microsoft and Dell said in joint comments the FCC need not provide additional protections beyond those in the rules approved last year. “The Commission’s white spaces rules are a ‘cautious and conservative’ first step with numerous safeguards to protect incumbent licensees,” the companies said. “These rules provide much more protection for incumbents than is legally or technically necessary.” They agreed with Google that broadcasters and other incumbents of the band have an ulterior motive in asking for additional restrictions: “All would thwart the Commission’s goal of building on the success of Wi-Fi by providing the public with access to the higher quality unlicensed spectrum experience that white space technologies will deliver.”

Dell and Microsoft fired back at arguments in petitions by NAB/MSTV, Shure, NCTA and others seeking additional protections. The FCC should decrease, not increase, the size of the keep-out zone protecting licensed wireless mics, deny calls for additional restrictions on adjacent channel use and need not provide additional accommodations for cable headends, the companies said. They also said criticism of the commission’s device certification process is unjustified.

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, an advocate of allowing broad use of the white spaces, not surprisingly asked the FCC to reject further restrictions. The white spaces are a “'vast wasteland’ of underutilized spectrum,” the coalition said. “The Commission has already taken an overly cautious approach … The additional restrictions in the Petitions opposed herein would eliminate the utility of TVBDs and the potential for national markets, undermining the very success of this rulemaking as well destroying the potential of this band to promote much needed wireless broadband connectivity in areas across the country.”

Motorola said the FCC should weigh petitions carefully and that some changes by both sides make sense. The company continued to urge higher power levels for the devices, but agreed with the need for stronger protections for cable headends. Motorola also said sensing requirements should be dropped for geolocation enabled devices. On the whole, Motorola urged the FCC to “’stay the course’ and expeditiously enable the deployment of WSDs in a manner consistent with the existing rules.”

MSTV and NAB asked the FCC to reject arguments in favor of allowing the devices to operate at higher power levels or otherwise expand the operating parameters for the devices. “Adoption of such proposals would allow TVBDs to create ‘loss areas,’ leaving affected viewers without access to their local over-the-air television services, disrupting cable television services and direct broadcast satellite services, and precluding the use of wireless microphones and other equipment for the production of news, entertainment, and sports programming,” the broadcaster groups said.

MSTV and NAB said the reconsideration petitions essentially focus on three areas: Power levels and other operating restrictions, rules governing the “establishment, use, and ongoing management” of a database protecting incumbents and rules for spectrum sensing. “With respect to each of these areas, the various petitions for reconsideration present the Commission with a clear choice between, on the one hand, efficient but prudent spectrum management, and, on the other hand, permissive policies that disregard destructive, harmful interference to digital television and other existing services and the public that relies on them,” they said.

Shure urged the FCC to reject petitions that would either roll back interference protections for wireless mics or give white spaces devices broader operating rights. “Shure objects to the petitions that rehash old arguments and attempt to deconstruct the Order and rebuild it bit-by-bit in a way that would, if adopted, produce a result wholly inconsistent with the Commission’s decision and its carefully crafted noninterference policies,” the company said. “Shure also opposes efforts to use the reconsideration process to put forward radical new proposals far beyond the scope of the Notices and record of this proceeding.”

NCTA said the FCC should reject petitions seeking higher power levels and other changes in the operating parameters for the devices or reducing protections for cable headends. “These Petitions invite a level of consumer disruption to video, broadband and phone services and a degree of confusion that in some ways would be even worse than would have resulted from an unmanaged DTV transition,” it said.

DirecTV supported revisions proposed by NCTA designed to limit the risk of direct pickup interference to multichannel video programming distributor reception. The FCC has chosen to monitor interference, but instead should build protections into its rules, DirecTV said. “Unlicensed white spaces devices present direct pickup interference risks to the DBS signals that are carried on the 250-750 MHz band in the coaxial cable in much the same way as they present risks to cable systems using the same frequencies on in-home cabling.”

APCO said the FCC should reject calls by Motorola, Dell and Microsoft seeking reconsideration of agency’s decision to prohibit unlicensed portable devices from operating in TV channels 14-20, or 470-512 MHz, which are also used for public safety communications in a number of major U.S. cities and counties. “Petitioners claim that various interference avoidance techniques are sufficient to protect land mobile operations in the 470-512 MHz band,” APCO said. “Yet, these techniques are largely untested for use with unlicensed mobile/portable devices that might venture into geographic areas in which sensitive public safety land mobile systems operate.” Los Angles County agreed with APCO, saying 50 law enforcement agencies and fire departments in the county operate their primary public safety communications in the UHF band, mostly at 470-512 MHz.