Interference with Doppler Radar
Sling Broadband, LLC (Sling), operator of Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (“U-NII”) transmission systems in Deerfield Beach, Florida, was found liable for interfering with the FAA’s Terminal Doppler Weather Radar located at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, and for operating on frequencies in the 5.35-5.46 MHz band for which the Part 15 Rules did not apply and for which Sling did not hold any licenses. Due to these violations, in a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Order, Sling was fined $20,000.
Category: Enforcement CornerWhat the Heck, Repurpose It All!
In the “are you kidding” category, a “group” calling itself the “Mobile Broadband Coalition,” has suggested that the FCC should not only permit Sprint to deploy CDMA technology in the 800 MHz ESMR band, but that the agency should also repurpose “the remaining 22 MHz within the Private Land Mobile Radio Band so that an additional 36 MHz would be made available now to provide additional spectrum capacity to meet the rapidly growing demand for high bandwidth intensive mobile data and video.” It is entirely unclear how the Coalition would expect the FCC to issue licenses for this “repurposed” spectrum or what rights incumbents would have, including incumbents that have just been rebanded.
Category:Job ”Onshoring” Forecast with Broadband Growth
The launch of “jobs4america,” a coalition of call center businesses committed to creating 100,000 new jobs in America, was announced by FCC Chairman Genachowski along with several business leaders. Highlighting call center industry plans for job growth in industries using broadband technologies like VoIP, video conferencing and social networking to improve customer service, the FCC predicted that many people will perform the new call center jobs from home that were previously outsourced to companies in foreign countries. Currently, 17 percent of all call center jobs are home-based, according to FCC data. FCC News
650 MHz for Microwave Services?
The FCC has proposed removing regulatory barriers and freeing up to 650 MHz of spectrum for Part 101 Fixed Service (FS) licensees, primarily for microwave services that facilitate wireless backhaul and other point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communications. FCC Order
Category: In the newsSpectrum Deals Reached with Canada, Mexico
Presumably accepting that the U.S. State Department has more pressing matters with which to deal, the FCC announced on August 1 that it had reached an unofficial arrangement with Industry Canada for sharing 800 MHz spectrum along the US-Canadian border. The Public Notice stated that the arrangement specifies (1) how primary channels will be allotted between the US and Canada, (2) the technical parameters for operation on channels within 140 km of the border, and (3) a schedule for transitioning facilities from the channels needed by the U.S. to complete rebanding. For incumbents in the Canadian border regions, this will allow the FCC to notify Canadian licensees, primarily Telus, to vacate channels that are U.S. primary and are needed for relocating incumbents out of channels 1-120.
The FCC also announced spectrum sharing arrangements with Industry Canada and Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) for sharing commercial wireless broadband spectrum in the 700 MHz band along the U.S. border areas. FCC News
Introducing Advanced Technologies at 800 MHz
In comments filed on August 1st, EWA agreed with Sprint Nextel’s premise that the FCC had intended all along that it would permit the deployment of broadband technologies on what now is classified as ESMR spectrum. EWA cautioned, however, that the integration of more advanced technologies into existing spectrum allocations requires careful analysis to ensure that the benefits of bringing advanced 3G technologies to the public may be made without compromising adjacent channel 800 MHz incumbent systems.