CTIA May Challenge 6 GHz Order, Some at FCC Fear
CTIA is hinting at a legal challenge to FCC rules, set for a vote April 23 (see 2004060062), allowing low-power devices throughout the 6 GHz band without automated frequency control. Reliance on restrictions in the draft rules “as a basis to conclude that an AFC-free regime will protect licensees from harmful interference would be arbitrary and capricious under well-established standards,” CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. The group questions the studies and assumptions the FCC makes on the interference risk.
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“So-called indoor devices will not stay indoors, and the draft order’s solutions fall short,” the association said: Proponents challenge the need of AFC for indoor-only devices based on cost, “but the alternative regime it has pushed at the FCC fails to pass legal or technical muster.” FCC officials said the letter was seen at the agency as threatening a lawsuit. CTIA didn't comment right away.
CTIA is part of a filing from infrastructure and public safety associations raising concerns. “Without an AFC system, the Commission would lack a mechanism to direct unlicensed devices to non-interfering channels and would have no way to shut down such devices that interfere with incumbent operations,” said the groups: “Without this backstop, the Commission would make critical, and often life-saving, services vulnerable to harmful interference.” An AFC system for indoor use could be “simple, virtually invisible to consumers, and could be readily implemented,” said the letter, whose signers included the American Association of Railroads, American Gas Association, American Petroleum Institute, Competitive Carriers Association, Edison Electric Institute, International Association of Fire Chiefs, NARUC, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council and Utilities Technology Council.
Encina Communications raised concerns in a call with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. CTIA, AT&T and others “have consistently warned that if the Commission votes to approve the indoor use of unlicensed access points without AFC, the result would be irreversible, harmful and catastrophic interference in the 6 GHz band,” Encina said.
Tech companies asked for tweaks, in calls with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and aides to the other commissioners. Remove “language forbidding portable use of standard power devices under AFC control and instead ask questions … about whether and how to authorize such operations,” said companies including Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft. Ask “more general questions” in the Further NPRM on appropriate power levels for very-low power devices, they said. The American Consumer Institute said the FCC wrongly proposes to reallocate the whole band for unlicensed sharing. “Free spectrum may not be free for consumers,” the institute said. Airports, hotels, online services, cruise liners and other businesses “charge consumers hourly or daily rates for Wi-Fi use,” it said: “If the Commission provides this scarce national spectrum for free, it will be a windfall for these businesses who will charge consumers for its use, while crowding out private investors willing to pay for it.”
The Ultra Wideband Alliance said the FCC relies on an outdated study in not providing protections for UWB devices. “Relied-upon estimates are "grossly underestimated by several orders of magnitude,” the alliance said. Enstar Natural Gas warned of harmful interference to its communications system. The Wireless ISP Association said members use the band for point-to-point communications, including backhaul, and the FCC offers the right approach for indoors.