Timetable for FCC Action on Progeny Proposal Unclear, CEO Says
Progeny LMS CEO Gary Parsons said this week he is confident the FCC will be able to wade through objections to rolling out the company’s proposed 911 location service in the 900 MHz Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service band, but he is not certain when a decision might come from the agency. The proposal continues to be a lightning rod for criticism.
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"Gosh, I have no earthly idea on that,” Parsons said in an interview, when asked when the FCC might act. “I don’t have any feel for that at all. We're just trying to ensure that at every step along the way the true, underlying facts are known and understood both by the commission and by anyone who is following it and that those [facts] are put into the proper perspective."
Parsons said he understands why objections have been raised. “There are valuable and important Part 15 services that are in this band and we are attempting to bring a very valuable and important public safety service into this band as well,” he said. Parsons also noted that spectrum sharing is increasingly a focus of the administration. “No parties like to share, that’s undeniable, but that is part of how the process works,” he said.
Questions continue to swirl about tests Progeny conducted last year in conjunction with Itron, Landis+Gyr and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (CD Dec 26 p13). Public Knowledge asked the FCC to issue a public notice seeking a clear definition of “unacceptable levels of interference” before signing off on the Progeny service (http://bit.ly/Wvbi0o).
WISPA said in a filing (http://bit.ly/107CUX0) Monday last year’s tests show “Progeny’s high-power operations would substantially degrade throughput and render useless 15 megahertz of existing unlicensed spectrum used every day for [fixed wireless] services.” Progeny may be using only 4 MHz of spectrum, but its operations “effectively preclude use of the middle and upper part of the band by blocking use of 916-927 MHz for Cambium equipment and 912-927 MHz for Ubiquiti equipment, the two predominantly used manufacturers,” WISPA said.
"There’s no new data in this particular filing,” Parsons said in response. “It’s repeating the same things that have been repeated many times before.” Progeny’s proposed service uses a highly synchronized network to locate vehicles, wireless devices and other mobile assets using multilateration. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., recently asked FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a letter that discussed the public safety benefits of the service to “promptly consider” Progeny’s request (CD March 6 p9).