WASHINGTON—Sprint PCS and XtremeSpectrum Inc. are in a letter-writing fight regarding whether ultra-wideband technologies will interfere with PCS.
Sprint claims that interference will occur while XtremeSpectrum disputes this.
The PCS carrier started the latest round by writing a letter to the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, Defense and NASA on Sept. 10. XtremeSpectrum responded on Sept. 17.
“Ultra-wideband is a promising new radio technology, but it will create substantial harm to Sprint PCS and other mobile carriers if the Federal Communications Commission authorizes UWB devices to use the 1.9 GHz band currently licensed to PCS,” said Luisa L. Lancetti, Sprint’s vice president for regulatory affairs.
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“XtremeSpectrum has already given the FCC two technical analyses that demonstrate UWB does not interfere with PCS phones. … We need to let the interference questions be resolved with engineering analysis, not lawyers’ rhetoric,” said Martin Rofheart, XtremeSpectrum’s chief executive officer.
Ultra-wideband, or pulse technology, uses short low powered and fast (up to one-trillionth of a second) pulses to transmit digital data over a range of frequencies.
The FCC proposed allowing UWB technologies in May 2000 but this met with resistance from the airline industry and others that use the global-positioning system in addition to PCS operators. Some have suggested UWB be approved only above 6 GHz but UWB has resisted this suggestion.