Globalstar Channel 14 Sharing Plan Taking Heat
Opportunistic public access to Wi-Fi channel 14 as an FCC condition for approving Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service is getting more pushback from TLPS critics. TLPS would disrupt Bluetooth, and its "new, more expansive proposal would be even worse,"…
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said the Hearing Industries Association and Entertainment Software Association in a joint filing Thursday in docket 13-213. Opportunistic use of channel 14 ignores the fundamental concern raised by 2.4 GHz users, they said. "Permitting other parties to transmit throughout Channel 14 is likely only to compound the problems." The associations said an order that includes third-party use would violate the Administrative Procedure Act since opportunistic use appears nowhere in the NPRM and isn't a logical outgrowth of the proposed FCC actions. In an ex parte filing, Wireless Communications Association International recapped a phone call with an adviser to FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in which it repeated previous objections to channel 14 sharing, including the agency's not providing the required notice and chance to comment on opportunistic use (see 1606130053). Globalstar, meanwhile, continues to talk with O'Rielly about such opportunistic use, it said of a pair of talks involving company representatives including Tim Taylor, vice president-finance, business operations and strategy; ex-Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth; and others with O'Rielly staff. Opportunistic sharing was championed by public interest groups like Public Knowledge and Open Technology Institute (see 1606140020).