FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada and Mexico, seeks to cut back border conflicts

Aug 2nd 2011
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FCC hails spectrum alliances with Canada and Mexico, seeks to cut back border conflicts

It is not day-after-day that the FCC enters into new multinational agreements, so you will have to forgive us for buying excited over the most recent communique between Chairman Julius Genachowski and his counterparts in Canada and Mexico. After much negotiation, the regulatory heads have created a framework to solve frequency conflicts along our nations’ borders. While the cope with Mexico only applies to the 700MHz spectrum, the agreement with Canada also covers the 800MHz range. By reducing interference and maximizing spectrum allocation, Genachowski believes “these arrangements will unleash investment and benefit consumers near the borders by enabling the rollout of 4G wireless broadband service and advanced systems for critical public safety and emergency response communications .” Once the policies become official mandates, license holders must coordinate and implement techniques to mitigate signal interference or face some nasty regulatory intervention. In case you are a sucker for policy, just leap the break for the entire press release.

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FCC ANNOUNCES MAJOR SPECTRUM-SHARING AGREEMENTS WITH CANADA AND MEXICO ENABLING 4G WIRELESS BROADBAND AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS INSIDE THE BORDER AREAS

Washington D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached arrangements with Industry Canada and Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) for sharing commercial wireless broadband spectrum inside the 700 MHz band along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.- Mexican border areas. The FCC also reached an arrangement with Industry Canada for sharing spectrum within the 800 MHz band. These actions may also help support commercial broadband services and public safety mission-critical voice communications.

“These arrangements will unleash investment and benefit consumers near the borders by enabling the rollout of 4G wireless broadband service and advanced systems for critical public safety and emergency response communications,” Chairman Julius Genachowski stated after signing the documents. “I appreciate the commitment and dedicated efforts of everyone who was thinking about these discussions with the intention that we’re making probably the greatest use of this valuable spectrum.”

The technical sharing principles reached at the 700 MHz band could facilitate the deployment of mobile wireless broadband systems near the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders and will provide consumers in these areas with advanced opportunities for 4G high-speed mobile broadband access. Under the arrangements, licensees on each side of the borders may have greater access to the 698-758 MHz and 776-788 MHz bands.

The technical sharing principles reached on 800 MHz will pave the style for completion of 800 MHz rebanding by U.S. public safety and commercial licensees operating along the U.S.-Canadian border. The FCC ordered rebanding to relieve interference to public safety licensees within the band resulting from commercial cellular licensees. The arrangement specifies (1) how primary channels can be allotted between america and Canada, (2) the technical parameters for operation on these channels within 140 kilometers (87 miles) of the typical border, and (3) a schedule for transitioning facilities from the channels needed by the U.S. to finish rebanding along the U.S.-Canadian border.

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