Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA weigh in on white spaces

Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. urged the Federal Communications Commission to embrace a plan to allocate vacant TV channels — known as white spaces — on a fixed-licensed basis for wireless backhaul services. The move injects a new element into an already fiery debate between high-tech groups that want the propagation-rich spectrum for Wi-Fi and a broadcasting industry fearful of interference to digital transmissions.
“Because backhaul comprises a significant cost for wireless carriers, and incumbent local exchange carriers’ special-access charges are exorbitant, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile must find more affordable alternatives to the ILECS’s special-access offerings,” the No. 3 and No. 4 carriers told the FCC. “Despite this need, the amount of spectrum in the lower bands that is realistically available for the provision of wireless backhaul services has declined dramatically over the years. As wireless carriers expand the development of their 3G and 4G wireless networks, the need for reliable and cost effective backhaul will increase.”
Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile submitted the FCC filing to express support for a TV white spaces plan — based on a fixed-licensing scheme — offered by Fiber Tower Corp. and the Rural Telecommunications Group Inc. Until now, the mobile-phone industry has remained largely on the sidelines as tech companies large and small tout prototype Wi-Fi devices that can work within the white spaces. While results of testing on such devices have been mixed, TV broadcasters insist the introduction of unlicensed wireless devices in white spaces will interfere with digital television signals.
Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile are not directly part of that debate, though their argument that interference is less likely with fixed licensing does, in fact, go to the hot-button issue in the white spaces controversy.
Other national mobile-phone operators may not necessarily be inclined to join the campaign for fixed licensing of white spaces, since the parent companies of AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless dominate the special-access market that Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile criticize.