The FCC's best route to LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence is by watching and encouraging industry-led progress toward that goal, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-105. The group, which earlier this month put out its own suggested guidelines on how the two can coexist in the same spectrum (see 1511040059), has said the agency should monitor that coexistence development and step in on coexistence issues only if necessary. "I hope we have stepped in on it," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday after the agency's November meeting. "I've said to [LTE-U and Wi-Fi industry representatives], 'Folks, you've got to come together and resolve this in a broad-based standard.' It appears the House subcommittee has done the same. This is the way things ought to be taken care of. There are two things that characterize unlicensed spectrum. One, it's the innovation band; it's where all kinds of new innovations happen. And you want to make sure that in fact continues. The second is, it's the 'everybody respects everybody else' band. And we want to make sure both of those are happening. And the way that can be done is by a broad-based development of commonly agreed-to standards that meets both of those criteria." LTE-U backer Verizon "agrees," Patrick Welsh, assistant vice president-regulatory affairs, told us Friday in an email. "We are actively working with the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop coexistence guidelines for LTE-U." And in a statement, fellow LTE-U advocate Qualcomm said "proponents of LTE-U, including the members of the LTE-U Forum -- whose members also are members of the Wi-Fi Alliance -- are pleased to continue our ongoing collaboration with the industry through our work with the Wi-Fi Alliance initiative to develop an agreed-upon coexistence test regimen that will ensure that LTE-U and Wi-Fi successfully co-exist in the unlicensed spectrum, where the watchword is permission-less innovation, as Chairman Wheeler has correctly recognized.” The Wi-Fi Alliance ex parte recapped meetings between alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa and front-line staff of Wheeler and of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, plus with Office of Engineering and Technology representatives. The Wi-Fi Alliance said it plans a Coexistence Test Workshop for the week of Feb. 8. The group's members include Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Sony and T-Mobile, its website said.
The FCC and Comcast are wrong when they claim a 2013 U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling didn't set up a new evidentiary framework for deciding program carriage violations, Tennis Channel said in a proof reply brief in its petition seeking to force the agency to reopen a complaint against the cable operator. FCC arguments that Tennis Channel was supposed to anticipate the D.C. Circuit would put in place new evidentiary requirements and produce evidence in advance satisfying those hypothetical requirements "cannot be right in a case like this one, where an appellate court altered the standard of proof after the case was tried," Tennis Channel said Thursday. "Because the explanation in the FCC’s Order entirely fails to grapple with the relevant interests at stake, its refusal to reopen the record must be vacated."
The FCC's best route to LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence is by watching and encouraging industry-led progress toward that goal, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 15-105. The group, which earlier this month put out its own suggested guidelines on how the two can coexist in the same spectrum (see 1511040059), has said the agency should monitor that coexistence development and step in on coexistence issues only if necessary. "I hope we have stepped in on it," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday after the agency's November meeting. "I've said to [LTE-U and Wi-Fi industry representatives], 'Folks, you've got to come together and resolve this in a broad-based standard.' It appears the House subcommittee has done the same. This is the way things ought to be taken care of. There are two things that characterize unlicensed spectrum. One, it's the innovation band; it's where all kinds of new innovations happen. And you want to make sure that in fact continues. The second is, it's the 'everybody respects everybody else' band. And we want to make sure both of those are happening. And the way that can be done is by a broad-based development of commonly agreed-to standards that meets both of those criteria." LTE-U backer Verizon "agrees," Patrick Welsh, assistant vice president-regulatory affairs, told us Friday in an email. "We are actively working with the Wi-Fi Alliance to develop coexistence guidelines for LTE-U." And in a statement, fellow LTE-U advocate Qualcomm said "proponents of LTE-U, including the members of the LTE-U Forum -- whose members also are members of the Wi-Fi Alliance -- are pleased to continue our ongoing collaboration with the industry through our work with the Wi-Fi Alliance initiative to develop an agreed-upon coexistence test regimen that will ensure that LTE-U and Wi-Fi successfully co-exist in the unlicensed spectrum, where the watchword is permission-less innovation, as Chairman Wheeler has correctly recognized.” The Wi-Fi Alliance ex parte recapped meetings between alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa and front-line staff of Wheeler and of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, plus with Office of Engineering and Technology representatives. The Wi-Fi Alliance said it plans a Coexistence Test Workshop for the week of Feb. 8. The group's members include Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Sony and T-Mobile, its website said.
Public Knowledge used Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) proceeding to swipe at Qualcomm, which backs LTE-U that groups like PK and the cable industry contend can interfere with Wi-Fi. PK said the FCC should use Globalstar's TLPS proceeding as an opportunity to make it clear unlicensed is "equal to, not subordinate to, licensed spectrum," in a filing posted Friday in dockets 13-213 and 15-105. That wouldn't recast Part 15 rules on interference, Public Knowledge said. Instead it would add to "a steady evolution in the Commission's thinking" illustrated by its 2013 order approving Progeny's E-911 locator service for commercial use in the 902-928 MHz band (see 1306070030), PK said.
Public Knowledge used Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) proceeding to swipe at Qualcomm, which backs LTE-U that groups like PK and the cable industry contend can interfere with Wi-Fi. PK said the FCC should use Globalstar's TLPS proceeding as an opportunity to make it clear unlicensed is "equal to, not subordinate to, licensed spectrum," in a filing posted Friday in dockets 13-213 and 15-105. That wouldn't recast Part 15 rules on interference, Public Knowledge said. Instead it would add to "a steady evolution in the Commission's thinking" illustrated by its 2013 order approving Progeny's E-911 locator service for commercial use in the 902-928 MHz band (see 1306070030), PK said.
World Radiocommunication Conference delegates agreed on a globally harmonized network of vehicular radar in the 77.5-78 GHz frequency band that opens the door to short-range collision avoidance systems, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to WRC-15. Given the rise of smart cars and the “still unacceptable levels of traffic accidents or deaths [worldwide] … this will save lives,” Anstrom said on a call with reporters Thursday.
World Radiocommunication Conference delegates agreed on a globally harmonized network of vehicular radar in the 77.5-78 GHz frequency band that opens the door to short-range collision avoidance systems, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to WRC-15. Given the rise of smart cars and the “still unacceptable levels of traffic accidents or deaths [worldwide] … this will save lives,” Anstrom said on a call with reporters Thursday.
World Radiocommunication Conference delegates agreed on a globally harmonized network of vehicular radar in the 77.5-78 GHz frequency band that opens the door to short-range collision avoidance systems, said Decker Anstrom, U.S. ambassador to WRC-15. Given the rise of smart cars and the “still unacceptable levels of traffic accidents or deaths [worldwide] … this will save lives,” Anstrom said on a call with reporters Thursday.
One major piece of the updated FCC.gov is in place, as the agency this summer put out a new search application and integrated it into the existing website, said Deanna Stephens, project manager of the website modernization effort. That faceted search goes through both FCC.gov and the Electronic Document Management System for results, though the search can be filtered, and will be carried over into the new site expected to go live in mid-December, agency representatives said Wednesday. So far, the site is getting good reviews from those we interviewed.
One major piece of the updated FCC.gov is in place, as the agency this summer put out a new search application and integrated it into the existing website, said Deanna Stephens, project manager of the website modernization effort. That faceted search goes through both FCC.gov and the Electronic Document Management System for results, though the search can be filtered, and will be carried over into the new site expected to go live in mid-December, agency representatives said Wednesday. So far, the site is getting good reviews from those we interviewed.