FCC rejects reconsideration of licensed WiMax order

The 2005 decision was opposed by Intel Corp., Motorola Inc., the Wireless Communications Association (WCA), WiMax Forum, Alvarion Ltd. and Redline Communications, among others. They pressed the FCC to reconsider its original order.

The FCC rejected their petitions, but its ruling did include a call for using contention-based protocols to allow services to share spectrum. The agency also clarified its earlier ruling to restrict the operation of such protocols to the lower 25 MHz of the band.

In a 30-page ruling, the FCC said that using restricted, contention-based protocols would "facilitate operation of the widest variety of broadband technologies with minimal risk of interference."

The 3,650-MHz band has been used for federal and private radio-location services. Since 1984, it has also been used for international communication satellites. The commission specifically ruled out adding new regulations to limit interference with satellites. However, it created radio exclusion zones around 100 grandfathered earth stations, though future satellite systems in the frequency band would have secondary rights to new terrestrial broadband services.

Originally, the FCC had proposed using the spectrum as an unlicensed band. Since higher-power, 24-W operations were proposed for rural areas, the commission shifted in 2005 to a non-exclusive, shared-use licensing scheme.

While some companies preferred to stick with unlicensed use of the band, WCA and Motorola requested an exclusive licensing approach to insure non-interference. Some petitioners also asked for different licensing schemes for urban and rural areas.

The FCC rejected both.

Intel, Redline and Alvarion also warned against "squatter" licensees who obtain rights but do not build out networks. The FCC said it agreed with a Cisco Systems comment that a licensee's slow buildout would not hamper others from using the spectrum.

Intel and Motorola also claimed that a listen-before-talk model of contention protocol was unsuited for long-range operations. The FCC order responded that Cisco and Tropos Networks have shown that such protocols could be added to networks at a reasonable cost.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said that after discussing several licensing approaches with hardware vendors and carriers, "I remain convinced that the hybrid licensing approach we first adopted for the 3,650-MHz band is the correct one."