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full filing in PDF format.

On behalf of the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) and the
Champaign Urbana Wireless Network (“Petitioners”), the New
America Foundation and Public Knowledge respectfully submit the following
Opposition to Petitions for Reconsideration of the
Commission’s TV band white space rules.^[1] We oppose the Petitions by
incumbent spectrum users, both authorized and unauthorized, to revisit
the Order’s central balance between protecting licensed incumbent
services and opening this “vast wasteland” of underutilized
spectrum on a shared, unlicensed basis to serve the public’s
interest in new, innovative and competitive broadband devices and
services. The Commission has already taken an overly cautious approach to
authorizing TVBDs. The additional restrictions in the Petitions opposed
herein would eliminate the utility of TVBDs and the potential for
national markets, undermining the very success of this rulemaking as well
destroying the potential of this band to promote much needed wireless
broadband connectivity in areas across the country.

First, several Petitioners request the Commission to reserve channels
exclusively for their use, either through exclusive licensing or by
effectively prohibiting the operation of TVBDs. Fiber Tower, et.
al presents no new argument to justify their proposal to exclusively
license six channels in rural areas nationwide, that has already been
considered and rejected by the Commission in this proceeding. Considering
the propagation characteristics of the band and the alternatives
available to Petitioners for wireless backhaul, there is no reason to
carve out a special license regime for such a small number of backhaul
providers. Further, it is unnecessary and wasteful to reserve additional
channels for wireless microphone users, given that the Order already
designates an abundance of safe harbors for microphone users and provides
even greater protection to Part 74 licensees through registration in the
geolocation database.

Second, requests by Shure and other Petitioners to further expand
protections for all wireless microphone users are unwarranted and
potentially threaten any channel availability for TVBDs in metropolitan
areas across the country. Considering the substantial protections
afforded by the geolocation database, it is unnecessary and unduly
burdensome to require TVBDs with database access to sense, particularly
at -114 dBm, or to prohibit the operation of personal/portable TVBDs
below channel 21.

Third, the Commission has already gone too far by extending the
interference protection to an unknown number of cable headends without
even a showing of interference. Because headends were under no prior
obligation even to register their location, the Commission has no idea
how many headends there are, or where they are located, and thus no means
to assess the impact of further protections. Given this uncertainty, the
Commission should first collect this information through an additional
notice and provide for adequate public input and discussion.

Fourth, requests to further limit the operation and power levels of
personal/portable TVBDs on first adjacent channels are unsubstantiated,
excessive and would in practice undermine national markets for TVBDs and
services. Proposals to limit TVBDs to 10 or 20 mW power are simply
efforts to re-argue the already well-settled question of whether the
white space spectrum should be opened for new broadband services and
innovation.

Fifth, the Commission should not make the certification process for TVBDs
more burdensome. Shure’s request to open test procedures of
geolocation TVBDs to public comments would hamper innovation and rehash
issues the Commission has already aired exhaustively.

Finally, the Commission should reexamine the border exclusion zone, given
that there is nothing in the Order to explain how it is possible
for unlicensed devices to qualify as broadcast devices subject to the
treaty when they do not even meet the threshold requirement of requiring
licenses under Section 301.

[1] Unlicensed Operations in the
TV Broadcast Bands; Additional Spectrum for Unlicensed Devices Below 900
MHz and the 3 GHz Band, Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion
and Order, 23 FCC Rcd. 16807 (2008) (¶¶ 1-3) (“Second
R&O”).