End the Globalstar TLPS Proceeding, Bluetooth SIG Says

The FCC is wasting time and effort on Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), and should end the proceeding and deny the satellite company's request, Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) said in a filing posted Monday in docket 13-213. It responded to a Globalstar submission last month detailing the company's TLPS test on a college campus (see 1509110018), and said the filing "proves nothing and is as vague and non-transparent as the prior Globalstar demonstrations." Bluetooth SIG called details about Bluetooth testing "almost insulting in their lack of detail and specificity." The group has said its own demonstrations earlier this year show that TLPS interference with Bluetooth could have detrimental effects on Bluetooth devices (see [Ref:1503240047]), and repeated that point now. That it was not asked to take part in this latest TLPS testing, despite having asked to be included, must point to "a real cause for concern that proper testing would expose," Bluetooth SIG said. Globalstar still hasn't made "a coherent case" for why it should be exempt from industrial, scientific and medical radio band regulations, Bluetooth SIG said. In a statement, Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder said the SIG filing contained "nothing new," with the group "forget[ting] the collaborative testing that was done at the Commission in March which showed that TLPS had no perceptible impact on BlueTooth devices. Indeed, BlueTooth has refused to make available the audio files of their hearing aid demonstration that confirms the lack of any such impact. By contrast, we have posted a video of our demonstration showing the compatibility of TLPS with BlueTooth."