Of All the Bands – 700 MHz Wireless Microphones
Phong Le Company, doing business as” Mega DJ” in Houston, Texas was cited for marketing unauthorized 700 MHz wireless microphones to US consumers. FCC regulations state that “no person shall manufacture, import, sell, offer for sale, or ship devices or home electronic equipment and systems, or use devices, which fail to comply” with applicable law. The Commission requested that Mega J immediately cease marketing of these devices and take corrective action to avoid any reoccurrence of the violation. As if we haven’t had enough.
Category: Enforcement CornerSharing Shared Spectrum
EWA is increasingly concerned about the number of public safety applications that are being filed at the FCC seeking a waiver of the rules to access Industrial/Business (I/B) shared spectrum. Observations include the fact that public safety frequency coordination practices tend to favor channel exclusivity which may artificially create spectrum shortages, and unfortunately, not all FCC-certified I/B frequency advisory committees choose to scrutinize public safety analyses that are intended to provide proof that there is no available public safety spectrum available for certification. EWA will be suggesting changes to the public safety I/B spectrum access protocols in the very near future.
Category: EWA On Your SideSeparate FCC Application Processing Queue Recommended
EWA recently requested that the FCC temporarily establish a separate processing queue for applications above 470 MHz for which conditional licensing is not an option. Processing has slowed considerably at the FCC due to the heavy volume of narrowbanding applications and continues to run more than five months. While applicants for most coordinated authorizations below 470 MHz are permitted to begin operating ten business days after their application is received at the FCC, those in the upper bands must wait until the application has been processed by the FCC, even for items as simple as changing an emission designator from analog to digital.
Category: EWA On Your SideAdd $449 Million to the Bill
Last week, EWA filed Reply Comments again suggesting that the FCC should not exceed its Congressional directive to reallocate public safety T-Band spectrum and to relocate public safety licensees … period. If the Commission concludes that Industrial/Business (I/B) licensees must be moved as well to accommodate yet to be identified auction participants eight years from now, then those crafting implementation policy must recognize that there is absolutely zero comparable spectrum available to I/B licensees who are to be relocated other than a contiguous portion of T-Band spectrum.
To ensure that those crafting the rules have an appreciation of the economic impact on incumbent I/B users should they be forced to relocate, EWA included a report prepared by Televate LLC, which quantified the estimated cost of repacking I/B T-Band licensees into a single portion of contiguous T-Band spectrum. Based on reviews using both ULS data and information from licensees and vendors, Televate estimated that relocating the present 764 incumbent I/B systems would cost a minimum of $449,200,000. EWA stated in its comments that it was its expectation that these costs would be borne by the future auction winner(s) as it has been in prior FCC auctions where incumbents were advised that their operations were no longer welcome.
Category: EWA On Your Side