NextWeb said it backs a Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) posit...

representing small wireless ISPs (WISPs) -- NextWeb said it “is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain reliable operations in the license-exempt bands,” despite frequency coordination efforts by the group Broadband Access Network Coordination (BANC). WCA wants the FCC to create two 25 MHz blocks licensed on an MSA/RSA basis. Both of the 25 MHz blocks in MSAs would be auctioned for exclusive use, the trade group said. So would one of the RSA blocks. The other RSA block would be made available under the FCC’s nonexclusive licensing regime, it said. WCA’s licensing plan calls for applying the FCC’s designated entity bidding credit rules and prohibiting package bidding. Part-15.org said it could back the proposal -- but only after many of its concerns are addressed (CD Aug 26 p7). “While Part-15.org certainly is entitled to its position, WCA’s WISP members are actively seeking exclusive-use spectrum,” WCA Attorney Paul Sinderbrand told us: “NextWeb’s filing is just the latest evidence that many of the more successful WISPs are abandoning their reliance on shared spectrum in favor of the certainty that comes with exclusive use licensing.” NextWeb, one of the largest operators in the license- exempt spectrum in the U.S. was a founding member of BANC, launched to coordinate unlicensed frequency usage among unlicensed WISPs in the San Francisco Bay area.