Unlicensed and Unshackled: A Joint OSP-OET White Paper on Unlicensed Devices and their Regulatory Issues

FCC OSP Working Paper Series

67 Pages Posted: 23 Jan 2008

See all articles by Kenneth R. Carter

Kenneth R. Carter

Columbia Institute for Tele-Information; CloudFlare; Google, Inc.; WIK - Consult GMBH; Federal Communications Commissio

Ahmed Lahjouji

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Neal McNeil

Government of the United States of America - Office of Plans and Policy

Date Written: May 2003

Abstract

In this paper, we present a survey of the origins of unlicensed wireless devices, their governing regulation, the current technological state of the art, an overview of the market with information from publicly available sources, and an analysis of the potential regulatory issues. Unlicensed wireless devices are permitted to emit radio frequency energy, without specific authorization, registration, or grant of a license. Today, millions of unlicensed devices are already in operation in a multitude of important uses for industry, medicine, government, national defense, and in the homes. The market for unlicensed wireless communications devices is experiencing unprecedented growth into a multi-billion dollar industry - quite striking in light of the severe downturn in the U.S. telecommunications and technology sectors. Unlicensed devices advance the public interest, necessity, and convenience for the American people by enabling applications not possible with wires or that do not require the acquisition of spectrum rights through the licensing process. However, without a forward-looking approach to policy reform addressing the fundamental problem of interference and maintaining these low entry barriers to spectrum, much of the benefit and promise of unlicensed devices may be delayed, or unrealized. We conclude that the effective policy reform includes enabling more unlicensed spectrum and promulgating rules to encourage technological and market-based solutions to optimize efficient use and sharing of spectrum.

Keywords: Unlicensed Spectrum, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Part 15 Rules, Wi-Fi

Suggested Citation

Carter, Kenneth R. and Lahjouji, Ahmed and McNeil, Neal, Unlicensed and Unshackled: A Joint OSP-OET White Paper on Unlicensed Devices and their Regulatory Issues (May 2003). FCC OSP Working Paper Series , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1086626 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1086626

Kenneth R. Carter

Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

3022 BROADWAY
Suite 1A
NEW YORK, NY 10027
United States
2128544222 (Phone)
2128541471 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.citi.columbia.edu/krc17/

CloudFlare ( email )

665 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
United States

Google, Inc. ( email )

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.google.com

WIK - Consult GMBH ( email )

Rhoendorfer Str. 68
Bad Honnef, D53604
Germany
49222492250 (Phone)
49222492252224 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.wik-consult.com/index_e.htm

Federal Communications Commissio

445 12th St. S.W.
Wahsington, DC 20554
United States
202418-2030 (Phone)
2024182807 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.fcc.gov/osp

Ahmed Lahjouji

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ( email )

445 12th Street SW
Rm. TW-B204
Washington, DC 20554
United States

Neal McNeil (Contact Author)

Government of the United States of America - Office of Plans and Policy ( email )

United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
148
Abstract Views
2,117
Rank
356,750
PlumX Metrics