Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC proposes using TV band for unlicensed operations

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 01:04:41 -0400

FCC proposes using TV band for unlicensed operations
By HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER
May 14 12:36:00, 2004

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission Thursday proposed rules
allowing unlicensed services to operate in the unused TV band.

“What we have always been committed to is that there has to be as many
competitive broadband platforms as possible.  I have been a broken
record on this for seven years because I want competitive choice, and I
want it in lots of differentiated ways. You want as many tools in the
toolbox to reach all of our population. Rural areas have their own
unique problems. Inner cities are a different kind of unique problem.
The more technologies that are capable of delivering broadband, the more
likely we are to achieve even more than we did with phone deployment of
the last 100 years,” FCC Chairman Michael Powell told reporters
following the meeting.

Because TV channels were allocated to prevent interference—giving space
both between them in each market and at least 150 miles before reuse—the
unused channels vary across the country. The proposed rules require
smart radios to first query to see if a channel is available in a
particular area before operating. If a channel is available, then the
device can use that spectrum.
The FCC envisions two types of unlicensed operations occurring in the TV
band. One would be approved devices to be commercially sold. It is
unclear whether these devices could request use on more than one channel
at a time. The other would be fixed Wi-Fi transmitters that presumably
would be professionally installed to first determine whether
transmissions would cause interference to TV operations before
transmissions in the TV band would begin.

The Media Access Project, often a critic of the FCC because of the
commission’s stance on media ownership, praised the decision.

“This action will bring wireless broadband to all Americans. From poor
inner city neighborhoods to rural areas where cable and digital
subscriber lines don’t find it profitable to deploy, this empowers
citizens to construct the networks they need, available when they want
them,” said Harold Feld, Media Access Project associate director.

The New America Foundation, which often calls for more spectrum for
unlicensed operations, said the propagation characteristics of the TV
band make it very desirable.

“At these wavelengths, signals travel easily through solid objects and
require far less power to reach their intended receivers. This lets
providers build cheap equipment that costs much less to run and goes
where you want it to,” said Jim Snider, New America senior research
fellow.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18102

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