A revised WCS Coalition proposal would allow wireless and satelli...

wireless mobile broadband, so no action in the XM-Sirius merger or related enforcement proceeding “inadvertently permits the operation of terrestrial [satellite digital audio radio service] repeaters in a manner that causes undue interference to” wireless. The WCS Coalition has spent more than a decade fighting XM and Sirius over interference-protection rules (CD May 28 p12). WCS wants the maximum power level at which terrestrial SDARS repeaters can operate cut to that for wireless base stations. But the body is open to a “compromise” letting XM and Sirius run existing terrestrial repeaters if they remain “subject to the current absolute obligation to cure interference that might occur in the future to WCS operations,” it said. New and modified repeaters would have to obey WCS base station power limits, it said. The revisions would cut from 2 watts to 250 milliwatts the maximum permissible power level for battery- operated devices “taking advantage of the less restrictive” out-of-band emission limits, the coalition said. Devices would need transmit power control mechanisms that “generally reduce” power levels below 250 milliwatts, it said. “The net result is to provide even greater assurance that WCS mobile devices will operate at power levels that do not pose a threat of substantial interference to SDARS receivers,” it said.