The National Spectrum Management Association and Motorola supported the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition’s request for a rulemaking, in collaboration with NTIA, to permit shared non-federal fixed use in the 7125-8500 MHz band, especially for wireless broadband backhaul. The rule change is needed since long-haul high-capacity fixed service radio links with path lengths greater than 10 miles are restricted to the 6 GHz band now, the NSMA said in comments at the FCC. “As the demand for greater mobile broadband services increase, the number of fixed service links increases as well as the demand for higher capacities on those links,” the association said. “As a consequence, the 6 GHz band is becoming more and more congested to the point of exhaustion in certain areas.” Problems caused by rain attenuation dictate the use of frequencies below 10 GHz for backhaul, Motorola said. “The FWCC Petition recognizes the escalating growth in mobile broadband and commensurate increase in demand for wireless backhaul, and asks that the Commission amend its rules and explore the feasibility of automating frequency coordination between Federal and non-Federal users in the 7125-8500 MHz band,” the company said. “Motorola supports the FWCC’s Petition and urges the Commission to initiate a rulemaking to examine these issues and effectuate the recommended rule changes.” Boeing supported a rulemaking, but said use of the band for government-mandated testing of commercial and military aircraft and satellites must not be affected. “Boeing holds several Office of Engineering and Technology experimental licenses and operates under additional NTIA assignments authorizing the use of spectrum in the 7125-8500 MHz band at sites throughout the United States,” it said. “Boeing uses these licenses and assignments to test and certify wireless communications systems installed on the commercial and governmental aircraft and satellites it manufactures.”

In a broadband-related order, the FCC agreed to allow fixed terrestrial wireless licensees to operate channel bandwidths of as much as 30 MHz in the upper 6 GHz band. The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition requested the change in February 2008, and the commission proposed approval in a notice of proposed rulemaking a year ago. The FCC noted general support for the proposal. “We find such action could serve the public interest by making an additional source of spectrum for high capacity microwave links more readily available,” the order said. “As FWCC states, such links support a variety of important commercial, public safety, and consumer uses, including backhaul for broadband systems.” The commission noted that it has granted many waivers allowing 30 MHz channels in the band. “All of the commenters agree that our existing rules and policies are sufficient to prevent congestion and speculative licensing. There is no indication in the record that the many waiver requests that the Bureau has already granted for 30 megahertz channels in the Upper 6 GHz Band have caused problems for relocating licensees.” The FCC also granted a FWCC request that it allow conditional licensing for non-federal use, with NTIA’s consent, on two additional channel pairs in the 23 GHz band: the 22.025/23.225 GHz and 22.075/23.275 GHz channel pair.

FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre expects the bureau to move forward on several spectrum related issues in the coming months, she said at the Washington Space Business Roundtable in Washington Thursday. Broadband, as in the rest of the commission, is the focus for the bureau, and two items recommended in the National Broadband Plan will be acted on relatively quickly, she said.

ITU member countries will approve new and revised recommendations on terrestrial and science services and spectrum management unless objections arise, the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau said in a letter circulated to administrations. Countries have until April 19 to raise objections on the recommendations from the study group on terrestrial services, the letter said. One proposed new recommendation provides technical and operational characteristics of oceanographic radar systems operating in the frequency range 3 to 50 MHz, it said. The recommendation also provides information needed for work under a World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 agenda item that will consider new allocations for the radars between 3 and 50 MHz, a document said. Proposed revisions were made to another recommendation on the characteristics and protection criteria for radars operating in the radiolocation service in the frequency band 30 to 300 MHz, the letter said. The revisions were made as a consequence of work on a WRC-12 agenda item that will consider the requirements for new applications in the service and review allocations or regulatory provisions for implementing new applications in a new primary allocation of less than 2 MHz somewhere between 30 to 300 MHz. Proposed revisions to another terrestrial recommendation update radio interface standards for broadband wireless access systems in the mobile service and operating below 6 GHz. Updates cover certain CDMA and WiMAX-variant standards in International Mobile Telecommunications. Information was added on IEEE’s 802.20, Mobile Broadband Wireless Access, and Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (SCDMA). Minor proposed changes were made on the impact of certain uplink high- altitude platform station transmissions on the passive Earth exploration satellite service in the 31.3-31.8 GHz band. Another proposed revision calls for harmonization of channel spacing in the 11 GHz band. Revisions were also proposed on the technical characteristics for an automatic identification system using time division multiple access in the VHF marine mobile band. Changes were proposed on the characteristics of HF radio equipment for the exchange of digital data and electronic mail in the maritime mobile service. The terrestrial services study group also wants to remove from active use five recommendations dealing with frequency sharing and coordination among fixed-satellite and fixed- service systems; mobile, radio-determination, amateur and related satellite services; and the fixed service. ITU member countries also will approve one new and one revised recommendation on spectrum management unless objections arise by April 20. The new recommendation describes ways to measure DVB-T coverage and verify planning criteria. A proposed revised method for measuring radio noise describes how to measure and evaluate all components of radio noise including impulsive noise. Countries will also approve one new draft text from a group on science services that describes a procedure for applying authoritative time stamps in electronic document exchanges, unless objections arise before April 19, the letter said. Proposed changes to another recommendation account for recent equipment developments in the pseudorandom noise code format for the operational use of two-way satellite time and frequency transfer, the letter said, and substantial editorial changes were made.

CTIA and CEA, filing jointly, proposed transitioning full-power broadcasters to low power, which they say would free up 100-180 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband use across the country, while causing minimal disturbance for consumers. That amount is still far short of the 800 MHz CTIA says carriers need in the next few years because of growing demands for mobile broadband. The proposal brought an immediate flood of opposition from broadcasters. The groups made the proposal to National Broadband Plan Public Notice No. 26, which examines spectrum issues.

More than a year after the FCC approved its hotly contested order opening the TV white spaces for unlicensed use, the commission has taken few of the remaining steps necessary to make the band commercially viable. The first devices that would use the white spaces to access the Internet are likely at least a year away and may not hit store shelves in significant numbers for two years or more, industry sources said. The future of the TV white spaces has received little FCC discussion as the commission pushes forward on the National Broadband Plan.

The FCC can provide more spectrum for wireless broadband quickly by finishing allocations stalled at the agency, Sprint Nextel said in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice No. 6. “The Commission should first make available the 50 MHz of commercial spectrum in its ’spectrum warehouse,’ consisting of the 1.9 GHz H Block, the 2.0 GHz J Block, the 2.1 GHz AWS-3 Block, and the 700 MHz D Block,” the company said. “The Commission has already conducted extensive rulemaking proceedings for each of these bands, and it should hasten their licensing by setting deadlines for issuing final rules and scheduling auctions. Doing so will increase competition, promote investment, and encourage wireless deployment.” The commission also should reduce the 2 GHz MSS spectrum assignments of ICO and TerreStar to no more than 10 MHz each and “remove the technical uncertainty and extremely stringent out-of-band emissions limits currently thwarting” development of Wireless Communications Services spectrum, Sprint said.

The NAB and the Association for Maximum Service Television went on the defensive in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice No. 6. They made a case against raiding broadcast TV spectrum to give wireless carriers a leg up as they build out their 4G networks. The arguments come as carriers ratchet up pressure on the FCC for additional spectrum. CEA said the U.S. faces a spectrum “crisis” though huge swaths of spectrum are underused.

Meteorology interests are pressing European administrations to reduce the number of channels available for future wireless local area networks on aircraft because of interference with radars, sources said. Wireless and airline industry executives are concerned that military and other radar users will try to further limit use of the 5 GHz band in Europe and on aircraft. Onboard wireless systems are proposed to use various 5 GHz band frequencies for wireless in-flight entertainment distribution systems, crew information services, passenger Internet access, emergency lighting, attendant headphones, and radio frequency identification.

GENEVA -- Meteorologists will press the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference for more tools to protect their work from short-range device interference and for greater recognition of their needs in national rules, speakers said on Friday at a seminar on radio spectrum use. Satellite interests will press for greater ITU-R involvement, but some intergovernmental organizations are opposing changes to the Radio Regulations. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the ITU held the seminar.