Nintendo, Wi-Fi Alliance Renew Stance Against Globalstar's TLPS Plan

Nintendo and the Wi-Fi Alliance are continuing their lobbying against Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service, said ex parte filings (see here and here) posted Wednesday in FCC docket 13-213. Nintendo said that at a meeting at its Redmond, Washington, offices with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., it echoed its concerns about TLPS' possible interference with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi use in the 2.4 GHz band (see 1609160070). It said that instead of moving on a draft order, the FCC should do "comprehensive, transparent, real-world testing" and separate assessments of the potential effects of opportunistic use of Wi-Fi channel 14 by third parties. Nintendo representatives at the meeting included Executive Vice President-Operations Don James. Wi-Fi Alliance's filing recapped a phone call with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in which it repeated its charge that using 2473-2495 MHz for TLPS will interfere with Wi-Fi channel 11 and that Globalstar hasn't done industry-standard testing or analysis to demonstrate the contrary (see 1505290019). Wi-Fi Alliance also said the FCC should look at whether the entire upper segment of the 2.4 GHz band should be opened up for unlicensed use. Globalstar has said TLPS would serve the public interest by adding 22 megahertz to the nation’s broadband spectrum inventory and alleviating congestion in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.