Google Inc. co-founder Larry Page said there are not technical impediments to making vacant television channels – white spaces – available for unlicensed wireless broadband access, but that powerful lobbying forces want to convince the Federal Communications Commission otherwise.
“I think the debate has been politicized,” said Page, speaking last week at an event sponsored by the New America Foundation.
Page said exploiting white spaces in the propagation-friendly 700 MHz band for “Wi-Fi on steroids” does not pose a threat to the transition from analog TV to digital TV as the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association of Maximum Service Television allege in a high-stakes feud being played out at the FCC and in Congress. The DTV is scheduled to be completed next February.
“I don’t think there’s any technical [validity] to that. . I think that’s really a very much imagined and creative fiction,” said Page, referring to the broadcast industry’s fears about the impact of white spaces use on DTV.
Device issues
Page plans to meet with FCC officials and lawmakers on the commission’s white spaces proceeding. To help bolster their arguments, broadcasters point to devices submitted by Microsoft Corp. and Motorola Inc. that failed to detect TV signals in government laboratory testing.
“With yet another failure, one must question the white spaces proponents’ mantra, that the FCC has enough information to write a rule that will protect consumers,” said David Donovan, president of AMST. “We all learn from our failures, but it is becoming painfully obvious that the FCC lacks sufficient evidence to draft a rule that can protect tens of millions of consumers from harmful interference. If you cannot make a device that works, how can you write effective rules?”
However, other white spaces prototypes have worked as designed. White space devices are being tested by the FCC to determine primarily whether Wi-Fi devices equipped with spectrum sensing technology can identify TV transmissions and thus avoid interference with them. The high tech industry and Department of Defense previously agreed on a spectrum-sensing approach to enable expanded Wi-Fi operations in the 5 GHz band without compromising military radar.
A March filing with the FCC recommended a solution combining geo-location to avoid disruption to digital TV signals and beacons to prevent interference to wireless microphones.
Page said he is optimistic the FCC will eventually open up TV white spaces for Wi-Fi and other wireless applications.
Broadcasters criticized Page of cavalierly brushing off white spaces interference fears.
“Given the numerous device failures that have resulted during FCC testing, it seems a little disingenuous for Mr. Page to simply dismiss the interference concerns that have been raised by not just TV broadcasters, but sports leagues, Broadway theater groups, wireless microphone manufacturers, religious organizations and roughly 70 members of Congress,” said NAB Executive VP Dennis Wharton. “Jeopardizing the future of digital television with an unproven technology would be unwise and unwarranted.”
FCC waiting for field tests
Despite glitches in white spaces testing, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appears committed to staying the course and to conduct field tests before possibly settling on final rules to unleash valuable spectrum that Page predicted will turnaround the U.S. decline in broadband penetration on the global stage.
“The FCC is committed to moving forward on TV white spaces testing. We continue to conduct open testing of the prototype devices to help the commission decide how best to set the rules before moving forward,” said FCC spokesman Robert Kenny. “Ultimately, the process is looking at what technology is available and how those innovations can help us use the spectrum in the most efficient way possible, without causing harmful interference to licensed users.”
Kenny said ongoing testing of the prototype devices should not be characterized as pass/fail concept, adding the FCC is expected to begin field tests in the near future and that the schedule will be posted on the FCC Web site once it is released.
Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc., the nation’s third and fourth largest mobile-phone operators, respectively, have voiced support for a fixed-licensing scheme for TV white spaces that would offer a less costly option for wireless backhaul services.
CTIA, the national trade group of leading cellular carriers, has proposed auctioning most unused broadcast channels for wide-area licensing.
