The Wi-Fi/LTE Unlicensed Debate: A Path Forward

I agree with Harold Feld that the answer to the Wi-Fi / LTE unlicensed debate should not be in new rules or regulations around the use of unlicensed bands – the very existence of which would redefine the unlicensed experience to the detriment of innovators and users. The answer instead should be found in the FCC’s existing authority to protect wireless services authorized by the 1996 Telecommunications Act from interference that is intentional or malicious.

Section 333 of the Act states that “No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter or operated by the United States Government.” This section has long provided the Commission with the authority to police interference into licensed operations and, more recently, albeit with some controversy, has been relied on by the FCC to police conduct in unlicensed bands. If this provision were broadly interpreted as applying to licensed and unlicensed services alike, it could provide protection against the very type of apocalyptic results that the Wi-Fi proponents fear. It could stand for the proposition that, while no existing unlicensed technology is entitled to any specific incumbency protections, no new unlicensed technology will be permitted to do the spectral equivalent of throwing existing users off park benches or flinging rocks at them.