The Federal Communications Commission(FCC) has adopted a new rule that will permit unlicensed fixed and personal/portable 'white-space' devices and unlicensed wireless microphones to use channels in the 600 MHz television broadcast bands. The rule also allows the duplex gap and guard bands, and channel 37 to be used on a shared non-interference basis with medical telemetry and radio astronomy.
With the new ruling, FCC aims to permit more robust and efficient operations of fixed and personal/portable white space devices in television broadcast bands without increasing the risk of interference to broadcast services. In addition, FCC said that the changes are required to cater for the growing demand of unlicensed devices usage from basic garage door openers and cordless phones to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies to the Internet-of-Things.
Welcoming the move, AT&T however raised a number of serious issues relating to the 'Incentive Auction'. The operator said in its public policy blog that, "In the past, FCC band plans have failed to properly account for existing interference concerns (think 700 MHz), but never in the history of FCC auctions has the Commission chosen to affirmatively create long-lasting and debilitating in-band impairments. This not only repeats the sins of the 700 MHz band – which remains under-deployed to this day – it doubles down on them."
