WCA: Nucentrix, Sprint, Worldcom devise spectrum management plans

Yesterday at the Wireless Communications Association's annual conference, three of the largest players in the 2.1 GHz and 2.5-2.7 GHz bands – Nucentrix Broadband Networks, Sprint, and WorldCom – unveiled technical agreements on spectrum management issues, which will speed the licensing process and market entry for carriers building broadband wireless networks across these frequencies.

The technical coordination agreements establish guidelines to ensure the cooperation of broadband wireless carriers when building wireless systems in adjacent markets and operating in the Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS), Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) and Wireless Communications Service (WCS) radio frequencies.

"The technical pacts provide for better coordination among license holders to ease interference issues so carriers can maintain the geographic reach of each wireless market and as a result, reach more customers," said Curtis Henderson, senior vice president and general counsel for Nucentrix. "We are confident that both the FCC and other wireless companies that are building out services using this spectrum will see the advantages of these types of agreements and will embrace the industry's vision for wireless communications in the future."

A typical broadband wireless coverage area at these frequencies is engineered to cover a 35-mile radius from the transmission tower to meet the FCC's interference protection rules regarding Protected Service Areas (PSAs). Currently, the FCC allows individual operators to determine what frequencies to use to carry upstream and downstream traffic, which may create interference issues for operators in adjacent markets.

To solve these issues, the technical agreements outline two objectives for wireless operators. First, the agreements increase the acceptable interference levels above those specified by FCC standards. Second, they also outline a preferred spectrum band plan that specifies which frequencies operators will use to carry upstream and downstream traffic based on each market's spectrum availability and licensing considerations.

Edited by Ellen Jensen