Wireless, Broadcasting Industries Clash Over Qualcomm 700 MHz Request
Wireless and broadcast industries clashed over whether the FCC should grant Qualcomm’s petition seeking clarification of Sec. 27.60 of the Commission’s rules as it affects the deployment of wireless services in 700 MHz. Sec. 27.60 provides criteria to protect incumbent TV/DTV stations from interference by commercial 700 MHz licensees. In comments filed at the FCC, the wireless industry urged the agency in comments to grant the petition, saying that would lower regulatory barriers to establishing 700 MHz facilities during the DTV transition. But incumbent broadcasters disagreed, citing interference as the major concern.
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The 700 MHz Advancement Coalition said it “strongly” supported the petition. The group said rapid nationwide deployment of a new “mediacast” network, MediaFLO, which Qualcomm had envisioned using its 700 MHz licenses to deliver high quality video and audio to 3G mobile phones, would “boost the profile of the 700 MHz band among equipment manufacturers, investors and the general public.” The coalition said promoting such growth in the band would benefit all 700 MHz licensees by reducing equipment costs and encouraging a rapid transition to DTV.
Many agreed with Qualcomm that the Office of Engineering & Technology Bulletin No. 69 (OET-69) should be deemed an acceptable interference protection standard. Aloha said OET-69 made “eminent sense” because: (1) It’s “a recognized standard upon which the Commission has written and with which Commission staff has a good working knowledge.” (2) The broadcasting community is “intimately familiar” with OET-69 and uses it to evaluate applications for digital LPTV and TV translator stations. (3) OET-69 is “particularly appropriate” for analyzing the technology Qualcomm proposes to deploy, since it’s similar to LPTV. While encouraging additional uses of the 700 MHz band, Flarion Technologies still urged the Commission to “consider carefully” the requested use of OET-69, saying granting that request “may have the unintended effect of increasing the risk of interference to Part 27 users operating on adjacent channels.”
Many supported Qualcomm’s request that the FCC’s existing “de minimis” standard of 2% apply in terms of assessing compliance with Sec. 27.60, and that the Commission adopt streamlined compliance processing procedures. “The allowance of a de minimis level of interference is essential to the timely deployment of new wireless services in the 700 MHz band, as anticipated by Congress,” Motorola said, “without substantially interfering with incumbent broadcasters.”
Granting the Qualcomm petition would be consistent with recommendations by the FCC’s Wireless Broadband Access Task Force, several commenters said. The Task Force has urged the Commission to advance its efforts to make spectrum available in the 700 MHz band and find ways to let those channels be used for wireless broadband services before the completion of the DTV transition.
Motorola -- a licensee of 700 MHz Guard Band license WPRR297 -- said it “strongly supports” establishment of FCC rules promoting expanded use of 700 MHz spectrum before completion of the DTV transition. “Currently, 700 MHz licensees are uncertain as to what is required to comply with section 27.60,” it said: “This lack of clarity is delaying licensees’ deployment of new and innovative services using this spectrum.” Motorola said clarifying the FCC’s “process and intent” would permit full utilization of the 700 MHz spectrum throughout the DTV transition while protecting incumbent broadcasters from harmful interference.
Access Spectrum (ASL) endorsed Qualcomm’s petition, saying the Commission had granted 2 similar waivers -- one sought by ASL and another by Aloha -- and was “correct” in doing so. “As the Commission recognized in both the ASL and Aloha waiver orders, the underlying purpose of Section 27.60 is to permit 700 MHz operations where it is demonstrated that viewers will not loose reception of co- channel and adjacent channel TV/DTV stations,” ASL said: “Thus, consideration of future requests must focus on sound engineering analysis and not be subjected to political and regulatory delays.” ASL holds 21 A Block and B Block licenses in the upper 700 MHz band.
The broadcast industry strongly opposed the petition. The relief sought by the petition “would plainly violate the Administrative Procedure Act and harm the public’s access to free, over-the-air television,” NAB and MSTV said in joint comments. They said if Sec. 27.60 was amended, “the resulting interference would mean a loss of free, over-the-air television service to potentially million of viewers.” They said such interference would be “particularly disruptive to the public’s acceptance of DTV technology, therefore frustrating Congressional expectations that the Commission will foster a successful conclusion to the digital transition.”
Cox Bcstg. said Qualcomm’s proposals would extend “the period of encumbrance” in DTV transition. “Not only would incumbent television stations be subject to receiving new interference without their consent, but they would have the burden, on a case-by-case basis, to prove non-compliance in rapid fashion,” Cox said, adding that the FCC had “no discretion” to grant such relief: “The speculative benefits cited by Qualcomm are far outweighed by the community costs resulting from diminished over-the- air television service.”