FCC Will Propose Opening 900 MHz ‘White Spaces’
The FCC is expected to vote at its Feb. agenda meeting on an order that would start the process of opening 900 MHz “white spaces,” or spectrum otherwise used for Business & Industrial/Land Transportation (BILT) service, for other uses, we're told. The FCC also will consider an order on giving Mobile Satellite Ventures authority to add an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) to its mobile satellite services (MSS).
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The Commission still appears on target to vote out a report and order at the meeting addressing conflicts between wireless carriers and rural ILECs on termination rates, as well as a further notice of proposed rulemaking that sends out for comment a number of proposals for revising the intercarrier compensation regime (CD Jan 4 p1). In addition, the FCC is expected to receive a report from the Wireless Broadband Task Force.
The 900 MHz rulemaking is considered a follow-up to recommendations for spectrum flexibility made by the Spectrum Policy Task Force, sources said. It addresses use of spectrum surrounding 199 BILT channels at 896-901 MHz and 935-940 MHz. The 900 MHz order could go so far as to propose rules for new geographic licenses in 900 MHz and will seek comments on how to define the rights of current 900 MHz holders, officials said. It also addresses but would not lift the current 900 MHz license freeze.
On the satellite order, paperwork is circulating on the 8th floor but there has been no indication what the outcome of the dispute will be, sources said. In Nov., the International Bureau gave MSV authority to take steps toward making its signals available inside buildings and in urban areas by providing terrestrial repeaters operating on the same L-band frequencies.
Competitor Inmarsat and companies like Stratos Mobile Networks and Global Communications Solutions flooded the Commission with filings in recent weeks arguing that MSV’s technology may cause harmful interference with their services. MSV and its allies have lobbied the Commission just as hard to win a favorable decision and convince them that interference will not be a factor. MSV’s announcement that it wants to deploy ATC transmitters on existing cellular and PCS tower sites was the most recent development that prompted a backlash from Inmarsat (CD Jan 7 p14). Inmarsat is particularly worried about ATC interference with its $1.5 billion Inmarsat 4 (I4) program, which will compete with 3rd-generation terrestrial wireless networks (CD Dec 13 p8). I4’s first spacecraft is being readied for a March 10 launch.
“Greater flexibility for ATC is critical to the success of mobile satellite services like MSV,” the company’s CEO Alex Good said Mon: “We simply will not cause interference to other mobile satellite systems. The issues raised by our competitor are merely an attempt to slow us down.”