Timing Unclear for More FCC White Spaces Tests
Chairman Kevin Martin isn’t certain when he will set a vote on a much-watched order on use of the TV white spaces and whether the FCC will permit unlicensed, portable devices in the band, he said Wednesday. Late Friday, the Office of Engineering and Technology said it will run more tests of devices designed to use the spectrum to offer wireless broadband without causing harmful interference to TV signals.
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“I don’t know for sure what the timetable will end up being,” Martin told reporters after appearing before the House Small Business Committee. “My instructions to the engineers was to work with both the broadcast engineers and the engineers on behalf of the technology companies that want to be able to utilize the white spaces… and to do it as quickly as they can.”
Tests should take place “in an open manner” with all interested parties present, Martin said, declining to gauge the tests’ duration as lasting months or ending more quickly. “You'll have to ask the engineers what kind of a timetable they've come up with for the next round of testing,” he said. Cable set-top boxes will be included in testing if the cable industry asks for that, he said.
Martin doesn’t plan to change open-access requirements for the massive 700 MHz C block, he said. Verizon Wireless, an advocate of such revisions, is deemed a likely contender for the 22 MHz swaths of spectrum to be sold in six massive blocks covering the continental U.S. The company is balking at a requirement that winners of C block licenses allow access using any handset or software.
The FCC still could revise the auction rules, but not as regards open access Martin said. “Many of the proposals Verizon has put forward in reconsidering the open platform rules I wasn’t as sympathetic on,” he said. “I don’t have any plans to try to revise our open platform rule the way that Verizon wants us to.”
Martin fielded a variety of questions. The FCC will respond to Rep. Edward Markey, D.-Mass., who requested agency views on revisiting special access, but only after other commissioners comment on an options memo, Martin said. “All the commissioners committed that we would try to get back to Chairman Markey by the middle of September,” he said. “I circulated an options memo to the commissioners in August… All the commissioners haven’t weighed in on which options they want. As soon all the commissioners weigh in… I'll tell the [Wireline] Bureau to draft an order.”
Asked about an item on cable operator video franchising rules, Martin said it was on for the Sept. 11 agenda but was pulled when other commissions complained of the volume of items requiring votes. “It has been on circulation since August,” he said. “As soon as everyone ends up voting it will come out.”