Verizon, T-Mobile US oppose Wi-Fi Alliance proposal to stall LTE-U

The debate over LTE-Unlicensed is heating up after the Wi-Fi Alliance asked the Federal Communications Commission to postpone equipment testing that uses unlicensed spectrum until the Wi-Fi industry group can run its own tests to make sure that the technology does not interfere with traditional Wi-Fi.

“The commission should wait until this coexistence evaluation collaboration is completed before it issues equipment authorizations for LTE-U products,” a letter from the Wi-Fi Alliance to the FCC said.

Many in the wireless industry have come out staunchly opposed to this point of view. Recently, U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US teamed up with major equipment manufacturers Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Qualcomm to write its own letter urging the FCC to oppose the Wi-Fi Alliance’s proposal, which could halt Verizon Wireless’ plans to begin deploying LTE-U in the 5 GHz band beginning in 2016, as well as T-Mobile US’ goal of using the technology in its smartphones by the end of this year.

“Since March, there have been extensive technical presentations on LTE-U within Wi-Fi Alliance forums focusing on LTE-U/Wi-Fi coexistence,” the letter to FCC Secretary Marlene Dortch said. “No outstanding issues have been raised directly with us as a result of those presentations,” the companies said.

Equipment makers such as Qualcomm believe LTE-U-enabled devices could provide a big boost for business. Access to the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum band could increase data speeds over short distances without having to log in to a separate Wi-Fi network.

No one really knows how much, if any, interference will come from the widespread use of unlicensed spectrum, but the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to make sure it is able to do its due diligence before the FCC gives the go-ahead.

The issue gets even more complicated when considering that the five companies mentioned in opposition to the proposal are a part of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

“As members of the Wi-Fi Alliance interested in extending the benefits of LTE on unlicensed spectrum to our customers, we urge the commission to reject this unprecedented request,” Verizon et al. wrote. “Allowing an organization that certifies interoperability for one particular technology to become the gatekeeper for another technology to use unlicensed spectrum would jeopardize the commission’s entire framework that has made unlicensed spectrum so successful as an open platform for permissionless innovation.”

Companies such as Microsoft and big cable companies have come out in support of further testing. Microsoft said it worries that the LTE-U signal could “degrade the performance of services delivered over Wi-Fi and other technologies that rely exclusively on unlicensed spectrum.” Many of the device and software maker’s products rely on Wi-Fi.

Big cable TV and Internet companies are worried that their investments in Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the country could be greatly impacted if there is indeed interference from LTE-U.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, which represents Comcast and other cable companies filed a petition with the FCC raising concerns about LTE-U and Licensed Assisted Access, another technology that uses unlicensed spectrum.

“[R]esearch demonstrates that both LTE-U and LAA would severely decrease the performance of any nearby Wi-Fi network. Widespread deployment of LTE-U or LAA would therefore harm American consumers, schools, and innovators by dramatically reducing the utility of the unlicensed bands for everyone but the companies that already hold licensed spectrum,” the NCTA said in its letter to the FCC.

T-Mobile US disagrees, saying the NTCA’s claims are exaggerated. The U.S.’ third-largest carrier said the claims “are based on testing with parameters set at extremes that do not represent realistic deployments or do not reflect actual LTE-U specifications.”

Qualcomm said many of its tests indicate that LTE-U may have the opposite effect on Wi-Fi networks. Some of the company’s tests show that, when coupled with Wi-Fi, LTE-U boosts throughput at Wi-Fi access points.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is not convinced. “The current LTE-U specification does not require products to include adequate fair sharing etiquette protocols.  The extent to which LTE-U shares spectrum with other technologies can vary widely from one vendor to the next,” Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of Wi-FI Alliance said in a statement to RCR Wireless News. “Furthermore, there is already a growing amount of research, such as that published by Google and CableLabs…indicating that Wi-Fi networks will be negatively impacted by the current version of LTE-U technology. The risk to users who depend on Wi-Fi every day for their connectivity needs is too great.”

The Wi-Fi Alliance wants to begin hosting workshops in November “to advance dialogue and understanding about fair spectrum sharing.”

In a recent filing, the FCC admitted it understands the complexity of the situation, saying there are “potentially four different types” of unlicensed spectrum technology to take into account.

As of now, the FCC is asking for more information from all parties. The communication industry’s governing body said the new technology will have to undergo standard certification processes through the FCC and require a sample of the equipment for “a full technical description of how the device will operate.”