FCC Clears Qualcomm to Offer Mobile TV on Cellphones
The FCC Thurs. approved an order that will allow Qualcomm to start offering high speed video in spectrum it owns in the lower 700 MHz band through subsidiary MediaFlo. While the FCC imposed strict controls on interference to broadcast customers using adjacent spectrum, MediaFlo said the order will allow it to proceed as planned with a launch now expected in combination with Verizon Wireless in early 2007.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
In Jan. 2005, Qualcomm asked the FCC for a ruling that interference with less than 2% of those served by an individual TV channel should be considered de minimis and therefore acceptable. Instead, the FCC established a sliding scale requiring interference to be below 0.5% at the beginning of the DTV transition in Feb. 2009, increasing to 1% the 2nd year and 1.5% a year later. “It’s a scaled way to roll this out,” explained Julius Knapp, acting chief of the FCC Office of Engineering & Technology. “It’s the percentage of the service area that might be affected. It’s done over time where the impact immediately is very small.”
“It was a balance between the potential for interference and the migration toward the DTV transition,” said acting Wireless Bureau Chief Catherine Seidel. “They asked for 2%. They're getting a gradation toward 1.5.”
Gina Lombardi, pres. of MediaFLO USA, told us the heightened limits imposed by the FCC won’t cause any problems for the company. “We're happy with the methodology and we can live within that methodology in the markets where we want to roll out,” she said. “We think we have a clear path. We think we're on the road to a very successful launch.”
MediaFlo has also been in trials with Sprint Nextel, and Lombardi said she has spoken with the other national carriers about offering the service to their subscribers as well. Early reviews are positive, she said. “We've done focus groups across the country and we've actually given phones to 4,000 different consumers,” she said. “The feedback is people are passionate about TV. They like to be entertained. We have found that there’s really more categories of programming they're looking for. They're looking for sports. They're looking for news and they're looking for kids’ programming.”
Qualcomm bought licenses to offer its service on TV channel 55 in 5 of 6 regions in the U.S. in a 2003 auction, buying the 6th license a year later. As a result, Qualcomm has a national footprint in the spectrum. Last Dec., Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm announced a partnership for the launch of the MediaFLO network in Verizon’s 1xEV-DO markets.
The FCC still must act on a similar petition filed by tower operator Crown Castle, which also plans to offer mobile TV through its subsidiary Modeo using a nationwide 5 MHz license it holds at 1670-1675 MHz. Chmn. Martin indicated the FCC was attempting to address that request as well. “Crown Castle very much appreciates the Commission’s commitment to resolving the Modeo power limit proposal soon,” said Ari Fitzgerald, an attorney for Crown Castle.