CTIA Proposes Licenses for TV White Spaces
CTIA said the FCC should adopt an areawide licensing approach, subject to auction, for most of the spectrum that would be available if the FCC opened TV white spaces for other uses, especially wireless broadband. Other parts of the band should be set aside to study unlicensed uses, the group said. CTIA released its proposal the day after Google called a press conference to release its own plan (CD March 25 p2). The CTIA proposal puts the group at odds with Microsoft and other strong advocates of opening the spectrum for use by unlicensed, portable devices. The Wireless Innovation Alliance (WIA) blasted the CTIA proposal.
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CTIA said its proposal should provide some comfort to broadcasters and other white spaces incumbents. “This licensed approach will foster intensive use of this spectrum while ensuring that broadcasters and other incumbent TV band users have recourse against identifiable entities in the event interference occurs,” the group said. “Ultimately, the TV white space is too valuable to lie fallow. Licensing TV white space spectrum will best facilitate the deployment of wireless broadband and other advanced services, while protecting incumbent licensees from harmful interference.”
WIA said its differences with CTIA are fundamental. “They want to lock up the spectrum and we want to set it free,” WIA said. “CTIA has continually pursued failed policies that enrich license holders while holding rural America behind the digital divide,” the alliance said. “While we may support licensed networks in some bands, licensing the white spaces is like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, it simply will not fully serve the public interest nor will it maximize the utilization of this spectrum.”
But CTIA said the approach it proposes has been tried before -- specifically auctions offering multipoint distribution service (MDS) licenses in the 1990s and auctions 34, 36 and 55 of specialized mobile radio service (SMRS) licenses. “These cases make it clear that the Commission need not take a leap of faith to adopt a licensed framework for the TV white spaces,” CTIA said.
Meanwhile, various groups whose members make use of wireless microphones blasted the Google proposal. “Google’s proposal, like the earlier proposals, does not offer any meaningful interference protections for interference with either wireless microphones or DTV reception,” said the Sports Technology Alliance. “Sports fans at home and professionals who make their livelihood in sports production deserve better than to be subjected to these proposals.” The Broadway League said the FCC should “reject inadequate white space device recommendations, like Google’s recently submitted ‘enhanced spectrum protection proposal,’ that permit new portable white space devices to disrupt professional audio systems used extensively on Broadway.”
An FCC spokesman said Tuesday the agency’s lab in Columbia, Md., is still conducting bench tests of spectrum sensors prior to a round of field tests as it explores white spaces interference issues.