CEA hailed Friday's U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit opinion rejecting all arguments by NAB and Sinclair petitions against the FCC incentive auction report and order (see 1506120050). “We appreciate the D.C. Circuit's opinion that the NAB-Sinclair appeals were without merit, and look forward to working with the FCC and all stakeholders to continue apace on the auctions," Julie Kearney, CEA vice president-regulatory affairs, emailed us Monday.
A coalition of wireless mic "stakeholders" explained the unique needs of wireless microphone users for reliable low-band spectrum. A “suite” of UHF spectrum must remain available for the devices after the TV incentive auction, the stakeholders said in a meeting with FCC officials, said an ex parte filing. The coalition argued that wireless mics “must work flawlessly without interruption during performance times and demand for channels may change in an instant” so mics differ from white spaces devices. The regulation should also be different, the stakeholders said. Wireless mic makers Sennheiser and Shure and various user groups attended the meeting. “Wireless microphone use is varied and not static, and the required number of channels in any one location at any one time cannot easily be predicted,” the filing said. “For example, one reality TV series uses 64 microphone channels, regional theaters use 30-35 channels for musical productions, and adjacent theaters on just one block of Broadway collectively use over 200 channels during performance times, while 1300 wireless microphones operate within an eight block radius. Similarly, a convention center may have an event that requires tens of microphone channels one week, but 400 microphone channels the following week, depending on the requirements of the particular conference.” The filing was posted Friday in docket 12-268.
Much more work remains to find the spectrum the wireless industry needs to meet growing demand, said Kara Romagnino, CTIA director-regulatory affairs, Friday in a blog post. CTIA is encouraged by the launch of the Broadband Opportunity Council, which looks at federal efforts to speed deployment of broadband, Romagnino said. “Federal agencies can -- among other things -- work to improve their spectrum usage in order to free up additional capacity for providing wireless broadband service; coordinate multi-agency activities and improve cross-agency processes; remove barriers to broadband deployment on federal and Tribal lands; and encourage growth of federal mobile wireless platforms, mobile health applications and mobile learning applications,” she said.
The FCC need take no additional steps to address the growth of LTE-unlicensed or licensed assisted access (LAA), CEA commented to the FCC. CTIA and Qualcomm had similarly encouraged a hands-off approach (see 1506110034). “The industry is progressing in its efforts to ensure that LTE-U and LAA can coexist in the unlicensed bands with other critical technologies,” CEA said. The association said its members “are highly dependent on the continued existence of unlicensed bands that are fully functional for a wide range of uses and users.” Unlicensed spectrum generates an estimated $62 billion per year just from incremental retail sales to end users of devices using unlicensed spectrum, the group said. “Near term unlicensed technologies, such as LTE-U/LAA and 802.11ax Wi-Fi, hold great promise for enhancing spectral efficiency,” CEA said. “LTE-U/LAA proponents contend that it allows for better overall use of a particular band and security by taking advantage of LTE’s robust security features.” The FCC mustn't place restrictions on services like LTE-U designed to protect Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies, T-Mobile said. “What may be the dominant technology and use of unlicensed spectrum today may not be the same tomorrow,” T-Mobile said. “The Commission should therefore continue its longstanding current approach of technology neutrality and ensure that bands designated for unlicensed operations support a broad range of technologies, products, and services.” But the Wi-Fi Alliance sounded a note of caution. The alliance remains hopeful “cross-industry cooperation” will lead to development of “appropriate sharing mechanisms” for LTE-U and LAA, it said. “If such consensus cannot be reached, or if there is inadequate collaboration, the Commission must be prepared to act so that the introduction of new Unlicensed LTE technologies does not impede the continued robust development of Wi-Fi and other existing technologies that are so critical to our nation’s economy and communications ecosystem.” Microsoft also expressed concerns about LTE-U and LAA, saying little is known, while Wi-Fi is critical to many Americans. “Although seemingly a highly technical matter, the question of how such coexistence is defined, implemented, and enforced in unlicensed spectrum bands is a critically important issue for literally billions of consumers globally who use voice, video, and data applications over wireless devices leveraging unlicensed spectrum,” Microsoft said. “We are concerned that any technology that makes use of a licensed control channel will use that channel to give it priority access to the medium, and in this case degrade the performance of services delivered over Wi-Fi and other technologies that rely exclusively on unlicensed spectrum.” The FCC posted comments Thursday and Friday in docket 15-105.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., want Commerce Committee leadership to mark up their Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424) or find another solution to the spectrum situation that the legislation targets. They sent a letter Wednesday to Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., urging them to “seek a path forward and find answers to whether spectrum in the 5 GHz band can be safely shared.” They pointed to some of the voluntary efforts underway. The legislation would compel such testing of the 5 GHz band. “Since our bill was introduced, the auto and technology sectors have started working together to voluntarily test to determine if spectrum sharing is possible and we believe this is a meaningful step in the right direction,” said Booker and Rubio, both members of Commerce. “With additional oversight and leadership from Congress, we are confident that a reasonable and safe solution can be found.” The upper 5 GHz spectrum is the most controversial and is used by auto companies for intelligent transportation technology. Some stakeholders have warned that legislation is hardly necessary and may be harmful, given the collaboration already underway within industry and between House members and the relevant government agencies (see 1505270044).
If the FCC makes major changes to the designated entity (DE) program, the TV incentive auction could be in no way as big a success as this year's AWS-3 auction, said representatives of DE Council Tree in a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff, including Chief Roger Sherman. The FCC on Monday posted an ex parte filing on the meeting in docket 14-70. If the FCC “were to impose improvident restrictions on the DE program that disable the type of large investor DE alliances which drove Auction 97 to record levels, multiple studies Council Tree has submitted on the record project that revenues generated by the forward auction portion of the upcoming Broadcast Incentive Auction (BIA) would fall dramatically, imperiling the success of the BIA,” Council Tree said. “The fallout and negative repercussions from such a BIA failure would be immense.” Imposing restrictions on DEs could cut revenue from the auction in half, Council Tree warned. “Its likely impact will begin to be felt ahead of the BIA as broadcasters learn of and focus on the negative impacts of the DE-disabling proposals.” Partnerships with investors have always been part of the DE program, the DE said. These partnerships are critical to helping the program meet its statutory mandate of “widely disseminating licenses among all geographic markets, promoting competition, and avoiding license concentration,” Council Tree said.
Dozens of hospitals have filed at the FCC in recent days raising concerns about the agency’s proposal to allow TV white spaces (TVWS) devices to operate in Channel 37 following the TV incentive auction. The frequency is currently used for licensed wireless medical telemetry. The FCC posted them in batches in docket 14-165. Typical of the filings, PMH Medical Center in rural Washington state said it uses wireless telemetry mostly to monitor cardiac patients, allowing a single nurse to keep track of 20 patients. If the hospitals system were affected by an outside source, such as a TVWS device, “it would have a drastic effect on the overall quality of care provided and may indeed cause life threatening lapses in an episode of care for extremely ill patients,” PMH said. Any lapse in its wireless monitoring system “could result in the death of the patient, especially with cardiac critical patients,” said St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno. Both letters were in the same batch of filings posted by the FCC.
Google representatives, including former FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick, discussed the importance of providing adequate spectrum for unlicensed in the TV band, following the TV incentive auction, in calls with FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman and Renee Gregory, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler. Google reported on the calls in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-268. “We discussed the importance of consumers having reliable access to three or more channels that permit the use of unlicensed devices,” the filing said.
Designated entity (DE) Northstar, managed by Doyon, an Alaska Native corporation, said there's nothing impermissible about its relationship with Dish Network, in a filing at the FCC. Northstar was one of the two designated entities working with Dish in the AWS-3 auction (see 1505190046). Northstar responded to a pleading filed at the FCC by VTel, which is challenging the grant of the licenses to Northstar, which it bought in the auction using bidding credits. “VTel now attempts to suggest that DISH has de facto control of Northstar Wireless” because Northstar Manager can require Northstar to purchase all of the collective interests held by Northstar Manager under various conditions and American AWS-3 Wireless II LLC also has a right of first refusal, Northstar said. “These types of put rights and rights of first refusal are fully consistent with Commission precedent when, as here, the decision of whether to invoke them remains in the hands of the controlling party,” Northstar said. “American II has no ability to force Northstar Manager to exercise its put right or to sell its membership interests in Northstar Spectrum to any third party. Those decisions rest solely with Northstar Manager and Doyon.”
T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the agency to tweak its rules for the TV incentive auction to set aside in every market at least 40 MHz of reserve spectrum for carriers without a dominant low-band spectrum position in that market. Rules approved by the agency last year set aside 30 MHz. Ray offered national charts showing T-Mobile’s weak low-band spectrum position relative to AT&T and Verizon. “Without a reserve of at least 40 megahertz, AT&T and Verizon will be able to increase their low-band spectrum holdings, entrench their dominant positions in the wireless marketplace, and choke off any threat of competition in the future,” Ray wrote. “Not only are the 'Big Two' the largest in terms of customers, but also they control a disproportionate share of the industry’s revenue and free cash flow. And they have shown that they can and will use their resources to prevent competitors from acquiring needed spectrum.” The letter said that in the AWS-3 auction AT&T and Verizon “foreclosed any meaningful competition from direct competitors by outspending all other facilities-based wireless carriers by more than ten to one.” The filing was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 12-269.