Broadcasters, Public Safety Raise Concerns on TV White Spaces Proposal
Broadcasters, public safety groups and wireless mic makers raised concerns about proposals to allow TV white spaces (TVWS) devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas, in comments on an FCC NPRM. Commissioners approved the notice 5-0 in February (see 2002280055). CTA, public interest groups and Microsoft urged the FCC to approve the proposal. Initial comments were due Monday in docket 20-36.
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NAB supported most of the proposals -- with quibbles: “NAB and Microsoft worked together over many months to negotiate a set of adjustments to the Commission’s existing rules that would enable meaningful improvements for TVWS devices while protecting television reception from harmful interference. NAB strongly discourages the Commission from unraveling this compromise.” The FCC shouldn’t “substitute its own judgment for Microsoft’s” on a “reasonable coordination process for TVWS operations with heights above average terrain (HAAT) exceeding 250 meters,” the group said: Don’t allow higher power operations on first-adjacent channels to TV operations.
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said the proposed rules don’t appear “to provide any increase in protection” for the T band or private land mobile radio. Allowing towers of up to 500 meters, twice the current limit, “has the effect of raising the interfering signal level by at least 6 dB,” NPSTC said. Devices on school buses, agriculture equipment or other movable platforms should have to meet the same spacing requirements as fixed devices, NPSTC said.
Tighten restrictions, especially for mobile devices, asked a wireless mic maker. “Many of the proposals in the TVWS NPRM are overly broad and risk leaving co-channel operations vulnerable to harmful interference,” said Shure. Sennheiser said the FCC should allow “certain professional theater, music, performing arts, or similar organizations” to obtain a Part 74 license, allowing them to register in the TVWS database system to protect them from interference. The rules now allow registration only by nonbroadcast venues operating 50 or more wireless mics, the company said: “The Commission has recognized that this current benchmark precludes many venues and performing arts companies that have a need for high-quality audio.”
Adopt the Longley-Rice irregular terrain model to simplify interference protection standards, the Wireless ISP Association said. It's a "far more accurate model” that the commission has adopted for the citizens broadband radio service and standard power in the 6 GHz band, WISPA said. Increase maximum HAAT to 500 meters and adopt a proposal requiring white space operators provide advance notice to affected stations, the group advised.
CTA supported rule changes. The proposal “is a much-needed, critical step toward ensuring connectivity for all Americans,” CTA said. ACT|The App Association said the proposal would help close the digital divide.
The rules proposed “would enable expanded broadband coverage in rural and underserved communities, improve application of TVWS technologies for smart agriculture and other industries, and open the 600 MHz band” to IoT devices, Microsoft said.
Public interest groups said the FCC needs to model interference correctly. Rules for databases “currently over-protect TV viewers within standardized and static contours based on an outdated free space propagation model that takes no specific account of basic geographic features,” the groups said. They supported allowing fixed devices to operate at higher power limits “in locations where operators have 6 megahertz of separation from TV stations” in areas with lower population densities and higher towers. New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, Common Cause, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, X-Lab and others endorsed the filing.