NCTA to FCC: LTE-U Could Cause Untold Harm

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants the Federal Communications Commission to open a new docket on the implications of allowing mobile operators to employ "non-standard" LTE unlicensed (LTE-U) technologies to operate in unlicensed spectrum, which the cable trade group argues could degrade Wi-Fi service, which is cable operators' primary mobile broadband play. That came in comments to the FCC late on June 11.

NCTA said the FCC needs to carefully supervise any standards-setting process, get all sides together to insure "effective sharing mechanisms," seek regular reports from IEEE and 3GPP standards-setting bodies, and not allow LTE-U to deploy until those processes are complete, and then regulate a solution if necessary to "protect consumers." Apparently, among the key cable operator concerns is that the mobile operator Wi-Fi technologies could interfere with other Wi-Fi devices, like cable in home Wi-Fi, not to mention, though he did, wireless garage doors and even baby monitors. That could turn mobile phones into mobile jamming devices.