Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Spectrum Allocations Heat Up At FCC Meeting

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 15:10:24 -0500

Spectrum Allocations Heat Up At FCC Meeting

Nov 17, 2003

The management of spectrum, both international and domestic, was the hot topic
at the Federal Communications Commission's monthly meeting held last week.

Ed Thomas, chief engineer at the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology,
laid down some of the steps the agency has taken in implementing the agreement
from this summer's World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva (SN, July 16,
2003).

Allocation for Wi-Fi devices: The FCC recently made spectrum in the 5 GHz band
in the United States for unlicensed Wi-Fi devices. "The significant increase in
spectrum available for these devices will enable growth of wireless broadband
services,"

Thomas said.

Allocation of spectrum for broadband services for aircraft: The FCC has
allocated spectrum on a secondary basis in the 14-14.5 GHz band for aeronautical
mobile satellite services, enabling the launch of services such as Connexion by
Boeing.
Operation of fixed satellite service (FSS) earth station onboard vessels: At the
Nov. 13 meeting, the FCC proposed rules for licensing of earth stations onboard
vessels (ESVs). The proposals are designed to protect incumbent fixed services
operating in areas around ports from interference resulting from the use of ESVs
while a vessel is in port.

Not resting on the agency's laurels, Don Abelson, chief of the FCC's
International Bureau, said that the first meeting of the WRC-2007 advisory
committee is planned for January to discuss preparations for the next WRC in
2007. There are already 21 agenda items for the next WRC.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell added that two people had been named to head the WRC
advisory committee to prepare for WRC-2007 - Nancy Victory and Peter Hadinger.

Responding to the WRC update, Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said that
"spectrum is gold and we need global coordination of spectrum that doesn't
damage our own U.S. governmental interests."

Spectrum Policy Task Force

Peter Tenhula, director of the Spectrum Policy Task Force that issued a report
last year designed to overhaul the way spectrum is managed, briefed the
commission on the status of the panel's 39 recommendations.

So far, the FCC has taken action to eliminate barriers to secondary markets; to
open up spectrum to unlicensed systems and devices; and to provide changes that
would improve access to spectrum in rural and underserved areas. There are two
dozen proceedings going forward on implementing task force recommendations, he
added.

The FCC took action at the meeting on one of the task force's recommendations -
development of a model to measure interference among different service. Termed
"interference temperature," this model for addressing interference takes into
account the actual cumulative radiofrequency energy from transmissions of
spectrum-based devices and would set a maximum cap on the aggregate of these
transmissions. The current approach for managing interference focuses on
specifying and limiting the transmission powers of individual spectrum-based
devices as the way to prevent interference, the agency explained.
Commission Michael Copps added a note of caution about the task force's
recommendations. "Now we come to the hard part, going forward with specific
policy initiatives from the commission. Do we have the legal authority to do all
of these things? Where do theory and practice intersect? Most important, how do
we look at new concepts, new technologies and new business models in terms of
protecting the owners of the spectrum?"

Satellite Phones and E-911

Also at the meeting, the FCC revised the scope of its enhanced 911 (E911)
emergency response rules and clarified which technologies and services would be
required to transmit E911 location information to public safety answering points
(PSAPs). Phase I of E911 implementation requires carriers, upon the request by a
local PSAP, to report the telephone number of a wireless 911 caller and the
location of the antenna that received the call. E911 Phase II requires wireless
carriers to provide the precise location of a 911 caller within 50 to 100
meters. The FCC established a four-year Phase II deployment schedule for
carriers, beginning in October 2001, to be completed by December 31, 2005.

As part of that effort, the FCC decided that mobile satellite service (MSS)
carriers that provide voice service are required to establish call centers for
the purpose of answering 911 calls and forwarding such calls to an appropriate
PSAP. The FCC also directed the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council
(NRIC) to study several technical issues associated with enhanced 911
implementation for satellite systems.

The FCC is also seeking public comment on two issues related to MSS. First, the
FCC asked whether transition periods are necessary for MSS providers with an
ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) to comply with the terrestrial wireless
E911 requirements. Second, the FCC sought comment on proposed reporting and
recordkeeping requirements in connection with implementation of the MSS
emergency call center decision.

Arthur Lechtman, attorney advisor with the IB's Satellite Division, told the
commissioners that the MSS item is designed to ensure that "users of satellite
phones have access to 911 emergency services." Lechtman added, "satellite
systems and terrestrial wireless systems have different network architectures.
This difference impairs the ability of mobile satellite service providers to
locate callers and to route emergency calls automatically to local emergency
personnel.  [MSS] carriers can set up call centers without waiting for final
resolution of these network architecture issues. Thus MSS customers will be
guaranteed access to emergency services in the near future."
--Fred Donovan

(Peter Tenhula, Spectrum Policy Task Force, 202/418-7783; Belinda Nixon, FCC's
International Bureau, 202/418-1460; Gary Thayer, FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology, 202/418-2290)

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