FCC Likely to Delay White Spaces Decision Expected in October
An FCC decision on opening the TV white spaces to portable devices appears increasingly likely to slip past October, sources said Thursday. Meanwhile, members of the White Spaces Coalition are preparing to submit additional data to the FCC. The Office of Engineering and Technology may do additional testing of white spaces devices.
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“I think there’s going to be a delay, but that’s up to Chairman [Kevin] Martin,” said one regulatory source. “I haven’t heard anything concrete, but this could well get pushed back.” Martin has yet to signal he’s willing to put off a vote on a white spaces order beyond October. Last week, he indicated he hoped to move an item forward “quickly,” possibly at the still-to-be-scheduled October agenda meeting (CD Sept 12 p6). Martin also said OET may perform additional tests if asked to do so by industry.
“A few months, even weeks ago, it seemed that the FCC was certain to release something in or around October,” said an attorney opposed to allowing portable devices to use the spectrum. “That is not at all certain now… My sense is that the commissioners were initially eager to keep things moving and get something out in October but the really dismal FCC test results and hearing from many different important sectors of the interference problems has shown that any action now to open white spaces, especially to portable devices, is simply not supported by the record. I think they're trying to figure out what to do.”
High tech companies including Dell and Microsoft have communicated to the commission they would not object to a delay if the agency needs more time to study interference issues. This week, the Media Access Project, Free Press, Public Knowledge and the New America Foundation (NAF) met with agency officials to urge a delay if necessary. “NAF, et al., observed that NAF, in collaboration with the University of Kansas, had submitted independent sensing data,” the group said in an ex parte filing. “NAF and the University of Kansas believe that further research conducted over the next two months will provide additional information and rebut allegations by NAB and others that the failure of the Microsoft prototype demonstrates that unlicensed devices cannot operate in the white spaces without causing harmful interference to incumbents.”
The OET released a report in late July in which the office said a prototype device built by Microsoft was found to have failed key tests. Microsoft later said that device was broken. Still unclear is whether OET will test a second device also submitted by Microsoft, test a new device or examine data submitted by Microsoft with no additional testing in the field or at its lab in Columbia, Md. An FCC spokesman had no comment beyond Martin’s comments from last week.
Lobbying on the issue continues. Officials with Cox reported in an ex parte letter a series of recent meetings at the FCC in which company officials said “there remain too many unanswered technical questions to permit personal and portable devices at this time.” They called for “significant additional testing and analysis.” Representatives of the ABC TV Affiliates Association and Hearst-Argyle Television made similar arguments at the FCC this week.