LTE-U Can Harm Consumers, but Only If the FCC Allows It

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission can prevent harm to consumers and protect their widespread use of W-Fi and other unlicensed spectrum. In the past, standards based groups like the 3GPP and IEEE have collaborated to ensure that licensed and unlicensed protocols worked in harmony, but unfortunately, LTE-U proponents like Qualcomm have pushed those two groups away from working together. That leaves the FCC to arbitrate these concerns.

Our coalition of public interest consumer groups makes recommendations to the FCC with the goal of meeting this need for coordination. As the licensing agency, the FCC sets simple limits on licensed spectrum and there is no reason that these shouldn’t apply to services that link licensed and unlicensed in a way that prevents the greater public interest benefits of unlicensed spectrum.