Wireless Backhaul Critical, But Some Proposals Won’t Help, Commenters Say
Industry players on all sides expressed general support for FCC efforts to add spectrum for wireless backhaul. But reply comments on proposals to change FCC rules (CD Aug 6 p5) expressed reservations about several of the measures, especially one to allow fixed service (FS) operations to share several spectrum bands now used by the Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) and the Cable TV Relay Service. Several of the proposals grew out of the National Broadband Plan.
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"AT&T and other commenters widely applaud the Commission’s decision to tackle wireless backhaul issues in a comprehensive manner -- especially given the skyrocketing demand for mobile broadband and the impact that will have on wireless backhaul needs,” the carrier said, summarizing the comments that have been filed. “AT&T, and the overwhelming majority of other commenters, however, strongly oppose the ‘auxiliary’ station proposal, a proposal that would produce harmful interference in the FS bands -- particularly in the vital and densely-used 6 GHz and 11 GHz bands -- while offering no offsetting public benefits."
Verizon said the proposal “would lead to less usable spectrum for backhaul and other services, and increased costs for those operating existing systems or building new primary links.” The National Spectrum Management Association (NSMA) said, “Sharing between the BAS and Part 101 Fixed Services may be workable, but more study is required. Until an industry study and plan for BAS sharing is developed, the Part 101 final link rule should be retained."
Comments in the proceeding “show that broadcast operations in the 7 GHz and 13 GHz bands are critical to the public’s timely access to news reports wherever and whenever news events occur,” said the NAB and the Association for Maximum Service Television. “The comments also show that permitting an influx of new fixed, point-to-point wireless backhaul operations in the 7 GHz and 13 GHz bands will be a challenge, because new fixed operations will be incompatible with existing anytime, anywhere itinerant newsgathering operations."
"We, of course, support the efforts of the Federal Communications Commission to increase broadband access,” Disney said. “We submit that this laudable goal can be accomplished without compromising broadcasters’ ability to cover local and national events in a manner that viewers have come to expect."
Another proposal proving controversial is that the commission allow the use of “adaptive modulation,” so FS licensees can temporarily drop below minimum payload capacity requirements to continue operating. Adaptive modulation “has the potential to increase the reliability of critical microwave links,” Verizon said. But that advantage comes at a price -- inefficient use of spectrum, it said. “Without appropriate restrictions, future users either may not be able to find suitable spectrum or be forced to implement high-cost solutions to work around lower-cost spectrally inefficient incumbent band user.” NSMA said the proposal should be adopted only with safeguards against spectrum inefficiency.
Filers expressed general opposition to a Wireless Strategies proposal that the FCC sought comment on, asking for a declaratory ruling that an FS licensee is permitted to simultaneously coordinate multiple links whose transmitter elements collectively comply with the commission’s antenna standards and frequency coordination procedures. “This proposal would increase the risk of interference and create distorted incentives that would lead to less efficient use of the spectrum,” the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) said. “More than twenty other parties agree with FWCC that the proposal is not in the public interest, with many detailing the harm that would come should the FCC adopt the proposal.”
The FCC was correct in previously rejecting an FWCC proposal that would change fixed satellite services licensing and coordination policies, and the commission should do it again, the Satellite Industry Association said in its comments. There’s no new information since the coalition’s 1999 petition that “would possibly justify expending” FCC resources “to cover the same ground again” at the request of AT&T and the FWCC, SIA said. Frequency coordinators’ data show that FSS and fixed services sharing has succeeded and allowed both to survive, the association said. Without evidence that full-band licensing of FSS earth stations “impairs FS networks’ access to shared spectrum” there’s no reason to believe that the removal of full-band licensing of FSS earth stations would help FS operators, it said. If the FCC makes spectrum in the 6875-7125 MHz and 12700-13200 MHz bands available for microwave services, it must explicitly protect co-primary FSS operations, SIA has said.