SiriusXM Planning Repeaters Nationwide to Deal With Wireless Interference

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology renewed SiriusXM's experimental license for testing new types of low-power terrestrial repeaters the company hopes will mitigate interference subscribers suffer due to wireless transmissions. The company said the interference comes from base stations operating on advanced wireless services spectrum and personal communications service spectrum and by operations in the adjacent wireless communications service band. It said the repeaters are in midtown Manhattan and New Jersey, it identified other AWS/PCS interference areas where testing should occur, and it's negotiating leases to install four more experimental repeaters at those sites in and around Manhattan. That testing is to start by year's end, the company said, saying leases are under negotiation for repeater testing in Los Angeles and San Francisco. SiriusXM said it expects to request authority to expand the geographic scope of its experimental license, and once testing is done it hopes to authorize nationwide, long-term use of terrestrial repeaters to be located near or at WCS, PCS and AWS transmitters that are or could be creating interference.