Wireless Mic Makers, Others Question Microsoft Push for White Spaces FNPRM

NAB said only one of Microsoft’s proposals is a nonstarter. Don’t seek comment on a proposal to allow operations in first-adjacent channels, the association asked. The company’s arguments for that change are built on a faulty premise, NAB said. “There is no evidence that Next Gen TV receivers will prove less susceptible to interference than existing receivers,” broadcasters said. “Even if Microsoft’s assumption were substantiated, which it is not, consideration of rule changes based on more robust Next Gen receivers is premature.”

The current rules “reflect years of careful technical analysis and balancing of competing interests and use cases,” mic-maker Shure said: “Any substantive revisions to the white space rules should reflect a similarly rigorous process and should only occur after careful deliberation and stakeholder input.”

“Limit further revisions so that they apply solely to less congested areas,” Sennheiser said. Microsoft “implies low instances of interference” caused by white space devices (WSD), the wireless mic maker said. “The Commission should not take this as a benchmark for adequate protection of incumbent services. WSD deployment in the United States to date has been sparse, and it is often difficult to attribute interference to a particular source. We do not yet have the experience to support a claim that WSDs have proven to be non-interfering in practice.”

Deere said Microsoft inaccurately cites its use of the white spaces under a waiver as a success story. “Deere decided in 2016 for certain business reasons not to proceed with operations under the limited waiver,” the company commented: It's "not accurate to point to the success of Deere’s operations under the limited waiver or of the absence of harmful interference from those operations as supporting evidence for Microsoft’s Petition when in fact Deere has not operated any transmitters under the limited waiver.”

GE Healthcare asked the FCC to make clear that new operations in the spectrum must not “endanger” sensitive wireless medical telemetry services operating on Channel 37. It's unclear "whether Microsoft intends for its proposed rule changes to apply broadly across all available WSD channels, including Channel 37 and its adjacent channels,” GEHC said.

ACT|The App Association supported the petition. White spaces spectrum “could be particularly helpful for our member companies that are located outside traditional ‘tech hubs,’” the group said. “Microsoft’s proposal reflects a measured approach that promotes broadband in rural areas. The Microsoft Petition appears to have taken into account the concerns that stakeholders have raised in the docket and have developed a workable approach that ameliorates those issues.”

The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance also supported Microsoft. “The proposal is especially timely in light of advances in cloud computing which may facilitate the separation-distance calculations needed to unlock this unused spectrum while preventing harmful interference,” the DSA said.

The Wi-Fi Alliance said it would go further than Microsoft in one area, and the FCC should also seek comment new methodologies for interference calculation key to use of adjacent channels. “Since the Commission last fully evaluated its white space devices rules in 2014, there have been significant advances in cloud computing,” the group said: “White space databases are cloud based. Concerns about the computational intensity required for multiple white space devices using a circa 2014-2015 terrain-based model can be easily addressed in 2019.”