OTI Slams 'Anti-Wi-Fi' Coalition
Says LTE-U Backers Have No Incentive to Play Nicely
In The News Piece in Broadcasting and Cable
Sept. 28, 2015
Broadcasting & Cable
OTI strongly critiqued the new Evolve coalition of mobile wireless carriers saying it would be harmful to consumers.
Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at the Open Technology Institute, called it an "anti-Wi-Fi" coalition.
“It is more than a bit ironic that the mobile carriers are finally recognizing the enormous and undeniable benefits of unlicensed spectrum as part of a campaign for a technology that could hobble the use of Wi-Fi by potential competitors," said Calabrese in a statement about the creation of the coalition. "Consumers now use Wi-Fi to transmit the majority of mobile device data traffic. This has avoided the predicted spectrum crunch and makes mobile broadband more affordable. Our public interest coalition fears that if carriers use LTE-U to control access to the unlicensed commons, consumers could end up paying more and missing out on the potential competition of Wi-Fi first offerings by wireline providers and MVNOs such as Republic Wireless.”
OTI says that If the FCC approves LTE-U--it's backers say the FCC only has to approve LTE-U devices, not the "permissionless" use of unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum---they could move downlink data onto unlicensed spectrum as an add-on to their licensed spectrum.
"Since LTE-U’s control channels would operate from the mobile carrier’s licensed spectrum, Wi-Fi operators are concerned that carriers have no incentive to share the public spectrum fairly with Wi-Fi and could decide to use it to undermine Wi-Fi-first business models that compete with carriers," OTI said.
Read the article here.