Washington — The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved a step forward, gave approval for a free nationwide wireless Internet network becoming a reality in the United States, as the agency said the potential interference with wireless carriers’ networks is minimal.
The commission published the results of a study conducted in September regarding the potential for interference with other channels. The FCC’s lab tests have concluded that launching an advanced wireless service (AWS) would not risk harmful interference for T-Mobile and others…
The commission had thought of auctioning off the frequencies in the 2,155-2,175 MHz band and requiring the winner to offer free Wi-Fi across the United States.
Major US telecommunications companies have opposed opening up unused portions of the US airwaves to wireless Web use, but a new report by FCC engineers has essentially shot down one of their major arguments.
The proposed band is 2155-2175 MHz, or AWS-3, for Advanced Wireless Service.
The study was launched after Telco giant T-Mobile informed the FCC of an internal study which suggested that devices using the AWS-3 band proposed for the free channel would experience harmful interference for handsets using the nearby commercial AWS-1 band. “The company contended that such interference could leave its paying customers unable to use their devices.”
In response, the FCC conducted a series of tests which the commission said not only replicated T-Mobile’s reported conditions, but also instances in which worse interference were possible.
Late last Friday, the commission released a report showing test results on claims that opening up a narrow part of the spectrum dedicated to free wireless broadband access would interfere with existing carriers’ nearby frequencies.
The tests showed that did not happen, shooting down technical arguments made by T-Mobile USA. Conditions were simulated at a test facility in Seattle in September, and the results showed that T-Mobile’s handsets and those running on the new, dedicated frequency.
“The analysis shows that an AWS-1 and AWS-3 device operating in close proximity does not necessarily result in interference. And when factoring in actual operation under non-static conditions, the situation only improves,” the report said.
“The Commission has generally adopted standards that balance the risk of potential interference against a variety of other factors, including the impact those standards may have on the potential uses of spectrum,” read the report.
“We need to reserve some spectrum for free broadband services,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said. “This would be a lifeline broadband service that would be designed for lower-income people who may not otherwise have access to the Internet.”
The report is seemingly good news for a Silicon Valley start-up, M2Z Networks Inc., which has been the major proponent of the free Wi-Fi, applied to the FCC, the US regulatory body, in May 2006 to lease the AWS-3 spectrum to build a free nationwide wireless broadband network.
M2Z promised to ensure broadband coverage for 95 percent of the population within 10 years.
FCC’s Martin has repeatedly extended his favors for free access to the Internet and has proposed auctioning off the portion of the spectrum that would be dedicated to free wireless use.
“There is a social obligation in making sure everybody can participate in the next generation of broadband services,” Martin told the newspaper USA Today in an interview in August.
The company has said that the carriers are opposed only because they do not want new competitors. But interference is not the only issue the carriers have brought up, as the mobile operators have also said an ad-supported free Internet business model is doomed to fail.
T-Mobile said it wants the FCC to reopen the issue for further public comment before moving ahead. The FCC could finalize rules by the end of 2008 and begin auctioning off spectrum in mid-2009. The company that wins the spectrum would have to ensure that the network filters out obscene content, and it would have to cover 95% of the U.S. population in 10 years.
“This [report] indicates that the regulatory process is no longer being held hostage by incumbent carriers,” John Muleta, M2Z Networks CEO, said in a statement. “We are no longer being held hostage by false technical arguments which have been refuted in England, Europe and now firmly refuted in the U.S., which is what we have been arguing for the past five months.”
Muleta said his company will remain busy while waiting for the FCC to set up the auction process and place it on the calendar; a vote is expected by the end of the year. M2Z continues to talk to potential partners looking to place applications and devices on its network.
AWS is just one example of the ways in which the FCC is hoping to foster a nationwide broadband connectivity boost. The FCC is also currently considering approval of a plan to allow the so-called “white spaces” between TV channels to be used for the launch of wireless broadband on a nationwide basis.
“Adopting a national policy to stimulate the deployment of broadband in underserved areas of the nation could have dramatic and far-reaching economic impacts,” say the authors of a recent study by the nonprofit Connected Nation. Among other things, the group concludes that the acceleration of broadband coverage could generate a positive economic impact amounting to $134 billion per year, including the $92 billion expected to come from 2.4 million jobs it would create or save on an annual basis.