Europe, U.S. at impasse on 5-GHz WLANs at WRC

Computerworld - European delegates to the World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-03) in Geneva still want to restrict use of a portion of the 5-GHz frequency band targeted for global wireless LAN use to indoors only (see story), according to Ambassador Janice Obuchowski, head of the U.S. WRC delegation
The U.S. wants to allow both indoor and outdoor use of that band.
Obuchowski, who conducted a teleconference for reporters today from Geneva, said European delegates want to restrict use of the 5250-to-5350-MHz band portion of the 5-GHz band for indoor use only to prevent interference with earth-sensing satellite systems. She said the WRC committee dealing with WLAN operation in the 5-GHz band plans to meet this weekend to try to resolve the standoff.
If it can't, the WRC might decide to take a regional approach, Obuchowski said, with the U.S. -- which already permits outdoor use in that portion of the 5-GHz band -- continuing to allow outdoor use, while Europe restricts it to indoor use only. She said there are still "substantial differences" between the two sides on the issue.
The U.S. has no plans to change its position, Obuchowski said. "There's no going back," she added.
Craig Mathias, an analyst at Farpoint Group in Ashland, Mass., said that "while it would be nice to have the same standard around the world, this is no big deal. There will continue to be differences on international spectrum allocations. This is politics, not technology."
Mathias said that since WLAN equipment is becoming smarter, users should still be able to travel the globe with a 5-GHz WLAN card and use it to connect, despite the slightly different rules in different countries.
On a different topic, efforts to allocate frequency for a satellite-delivered broadband service for airline passengers in the 14-to-14.5-GHz band has moved along "rather neatly," Obuchowski said. "We see a successful conclusion for that service."
The service, marketed by The Boeing Co. in Chicago as Connexion by Boeing, is currently being operated under an experimental license.
In a related development, Boeing, which has already signed Lufthansa AG as a customer, said it had completed a three-month demonstration of the service with British Airways PLC on select flights between New York and London that showed passengers would pay for such a service.
"This clearly was not a technical demonstration of the Connexion by Boeing service, but a validation of how passengers might use the service and their willingness to pay for in-flight connectivity," said Kevin George, senior manager of marketing brands at London-based British Airways.
TheU.S. also resolved European concerns about its plans to use higher power levels in its next generation of Global Positioning System navigation satellites, Obuchowski said.

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