Globalstar Renews Push for TLPS Approval, Faces New Challenge From Critic

Globalstar is again prodding the FCC to approve its plans for a private Wi-Fi channel for broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) in the 2.4 GHz band. The agency has everything it needs, and the nearly two-year delay in approval "only postpones the enormous consumer benefits of TLPS," the company said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 13-213. It recapped a meeting between Globalstar representatives including General Counsel Barbee Ponder and a variety of Office of Engineering and Technology, International Bureau and Wireless Bureau staff. Globalstar repeated its latest case for approval (see 1509110018), including the details of a recent TLPS test in Chicago, the terms of its TLPS mitigation practices, and its pledge not to use LTE-U in the 2.4 GHz band until the agency allows LTE-U deployment in unlicensed spectrum. Even if TLPS were approved immediately, it would "take some time for Globalstar to deploy TLPS access points and for consumer devices to be able to receive TLPS on a widespread basis, given the need to finalize production model access points and modify existing client devices to operate on Channel 14," the company said, adding that "the sooner the Commission adopts rules permitting TLPS, the sooner the American public will enjoy the substantial public interest benefits of this service." But the Hearing Loss Association of America in a filing also posted Friday said Globalstar "has not submitted testing that demonstrates its will not interfere with hearing aids and assistive devices." The organization said the FCC should require more testing by Globalstar, and submit those results publicly, before any approval. "Hearing aids and hearing aid accessories now have functionality that depends on interaction with smartphones and computers," the group said "That functionality, in turn, requires using technologies in the unlicensed frequency bands. The Commission must exercise caution that the advances that people with hearing loss have made under accessibility laws is not undermined by failure to adequately test Globalstar’s proposed service."