The FCC, as expected, denied petitions for reconsideration filed by wireless-mic makers Sennheiser and Shure of a December 2020 order (see 2012080064) closing the agency’s 2015 NPRM on whether to allocate a vacant channel for use by white space devices and wireless microphones (see 2204060068). The companies faced an uphill fight, with strong opposition from NAB and a united commission voting to close the proceeding. “We uphold the conclusions and reasoning in the Termination Order,” said an FCC order listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. While “we have concluded that we should not proceed with the proposals in this docket, the Commission is committed to supporting white space devices and wireless microphones and has pursued, and continues to pursue, avenues to ensure adequate spectrum availability for the important services they provide,” the order said. The record reflects “a large number of comments” and opposition by NAB, the FCC said: “Generally, the comments are similar statements expressing strong support for the important functions performed by wireless microphones and support for the designation of one UHF channel for wireless microphone use.” After reviewing comments, the FCC found adoption of rules proposed in a 2015 NPRM “would not strike the most reasonable balance that would best serve the public interest,” the order said: “We make this determination in light of other actions taken by the Commission since the 2015 NPRM that will support wireless microphone users and the burdens that the proposal would impose on broadcasters.”
Microsoft urged the FCC to retain its current rules for narrowband TV white spaces devices (WSD), which allow for “a once daily database recheck interval and allows a narrowband WSD device that is temporarily unable to contact the database to continue operations until 11:59 PM the following day.” That requirement has been in place for six years “without any reported incidents of harmful interference,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 14-165: Compared with other devices, “the risk of harmful interference from narrowband WSDs is even more remote. These low power devices can only operate in areas with three contiguous White Spaces channels, limiting their operations to less populated areas where multiple channels are necessarily available for other operations.”
AT&T and the Wi-Fi Alliance traded jabs on whether the FCC has the record it needs to justify revised rules allowing more use of very-low-power or low-power indoor 6 GHz devices, teed up in a 2020 Further NPRM (see 2204080042). “Despite the Further Notice underscoring the need for the record to be supplemented with respect to these proposals” Wi-Fi device makers “have still not met the evidentiary burden of demonstrating that the Further Notice proposals -- and proposals introduced after the Further Notice -- are in the public interest and can be implemented without causing harmful interference to existing licensed primary Fixed Service incumbents,” AT&T said in a March 31 filing in docket 18-295. “As part of its efforts to impede and delay low-cost broadband connectivity by continuing to oppose unlicensed operations” in the 6 GHz band, AT&T “now complains that there are ‘fatal deficiencies’ in the record that constrain the Commission from acting on its proposals in the” notice, the alliance said, posted Tuesday: “AT&T effectively asserts that the Commission could not possibly decide to permit greater use of very low power or low power indoor 6 GHz devices. To reach its flawed conclusions, AT&T misinterprets the rulemaking process and the record.”
Google representatives urged the FCC to adopt revised rules for short-range field disturbance sensor radars in the 60 GHz band (see 2110180062), in a meeting with Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “Modifications to the rules are necessary to realize the full potential of the 60 GHz band” and “updated rules should seek to maximize reasonable coexistence and technological neutrality among unlicensed technologies,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-264. “Coexistence is possible across a full panoply of technologies, including the several varieties of low-power radars that can operate in the band,” Google said.
T-Mobile wants to explore the use of the 6 GHz band in its operations. The carrier sought special temporary authority to run tests to “evaluate additional Wi-Fi 6 capabilities and performance utilizing 6 GHz spectrum” in the Alexandria and Falls Church, Virginia, markets. T-Mobile said in its application it hopes to start the tests now, to run through Sept. 1.
NCTA and CableLabs urged the FCC to follow up on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s December decision upholding the FCC’s 6 GHz order (2112280047) by finalizing rules proposed two years ago on higher power use of the band by devices operating indoors (see 2004230059). By acting on the 6 GHz Further NPRM, “the Commission can quickly deliver expanded benefits to consumers because many 6 GHz” access points “that are already being deployed will be tunable to that higher power level,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-183. The groups made their case in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
New FCC rules for TV white spaces devices, requiring them to check a database at least once hourly, are effective May, 2, said a Friday Federal Registernotice. Commissioners approved an order making the change 4-0 before the January FCC meeting (see 2201270034).
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology is seeking comment on the one part of the agency’s 2020 6 GHz order on which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asked the FCC for further explanation. The court otherwise upheld the order, which opened the band for sharing with Wi-Fi (see 2112280047). “We seek comment on NAB’s arguments in the Commission’s proceeding regarding broadcasters’ experience in the 2.4 GHz band, how that experience relates to the kinds of contention-based protocol operations prescribed for indoor use in the 6 GHz rules, and whether the 2.4 GHz experience warrants reservation of a portion of the 6 GHz band for mobile indoor operations or any other modification to the Commission’s 6 GHz rules,” said a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. OET stressed “in light of the limited scope of the court’s remand, we do not seek comment on any other aspects of the 6 GHz Report and Order.” Comment dates will be in a Federal Register notice.
The FCC needs to stand strong as its decisions reallocating spectrum bands remain “under attack” from other federal agencies, Commissioner Brendan Carr said at an event Thursday, sponsored by CTA and WifiForward. The challenge isn’t new in the Joe Biden administration, he said. The Communications Act makes clear that the FCC should decide how spectrum is allocated, he said. “As spectrum becomes more important, as connectivity becomes more important” other agencies are “effectively trying to challenge that 1930s congressional decision that experts at the FCC should call the balls and strikes here,” he said. Carr sees artificial and virtual reality, and the need for spectrum to connect AR/VR goggles to the internet, as key drivers of continuing demand for Wi-Fi. “At the FCC, we’ve tried to do our part to make sure there is plenty of” unlicensed “spectrum out there,” he said: “We’ve got to continue to stay strong” and “push back against efforts to encroach on the FCC’s expertise.” Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Bob Latta, R-Ohio, chairs of the Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus, said the FCC has done a good job making more spectrum available for Wi-Fi and that push needs to continue. “The value of unlicensed spectrum is absolutely undeniable,” McNerney said. Opening the 5.9 and 6 GHz bands for unlicensed was critical, he said. “We can’t rest there,” he said. We have to continue to push the commission to open up more portions of the spectrum for unlicensed use, and that will continue to push innovation,” he said. “What would have happened” without unlicensed spectrum during the COVID-19 pandemic, Latta asked. “Tele-education, telework, just people staying in touch with their loved ones, those are the things that we came to rely on,” he said. “Think where we were 10 years ago, and then five years ago” and where we are today, he said: “We have a great reliance on unlicensed technology. … It’s a necessity now.” The U.S. doesn’t want to follow other countries, “we want to be the leaders,” he said. “Unlicensed spectrum supports a wide range of innovations, from drones and [VR] headsets, to mobile payments and wearables,” said David Grossman, CTA vice president-regulatory affairs.
Sennheiser urged FCC action on wireless multichannel audio systems rules, teed up in an April NPRM (see 2104220056), in a call with staff from the FCC Wireless and Media bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology. The company has a “unique WMAS design” using “only 50 mW of power, the same amount of power that a single conventional narrowband microphone utilizes, even when a large number of audio channels are connected to the base,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-115: “Since the power is spread over 6 MHz of bandwidth, as opposed to conventional narrowband microphones, which concentrate that power in 200 kHz, there is much lower power spectral density, resulting in less opportunity for interference and greater spectrum reuse.” The company stressed “these benefits … significantly decrease” if operated using less than 6 MHz. Sennheiser also urged the FCC to set aside a vacant UHF TV channel for wireless microphone use across the U.S. “Microphones operating on low-band UHF TV band spectrum are the only ones that can deliver the fault intolerant reliability, compact size and battery life that film, TV and theater producers demand,” the company said.