Are Popular Wireless Services Like Wi-Fi and GPS Becoming the Pirate Radio of the 21st Century?

Abstract

Wireless spectrum has generally been classified as licensed or unlicensed. Users of licensed spectrum are generally entitled to receive protection against interference within their band. Users of unlicensed spectrum are not. Recent considerations granted to Wi-Fi (an unlicensed service) in the face of entry by a competing technology known as LTE-U; granted to a mobile wireless provider once known as LightSquared to establish terrestrial transmitters in a previously “quiet” satellite band; and then granted to GPS (a licensed service) in the face of LightSquared’s entry into an adjacent licensed band, suggest that regulatory boundaries between licensed and unlicensed service types are blurring. Indeed, it appears that the FCC may be granting license-like protections to certain uses of spectrum because of their popularity or favor, rather than just their adherence to the FCC’s in-place spectrum use rules. This development may have important implications for future licensed and unlicensed service models and the value of FCC spectrum licenses.