The US Federal Communications Commission is proposing allocation of a a new frequency range in the 27.5GHz to 29.5GHz microwave band for limited area transmission of video and other communications services. It proposes licensing two firms in each of the 489 US metropolitan areas for the new CellularVision service, and has granted Suite 12 Group […]
The US Federal Communications Commission is proposing allocation of a a new frequency range in the 27.5GHz to 29.5GHz microwave band for limited area transmission of video and other communications services. It proposes licensing two firms in each of the 489 US metropolitan areas for the new CellularVision service, and has granted Suite 12 Group a pioneer’s preference, meaning that it gets special licensing treatment as a reward for pioneering the technology. Suite 12 already has a licence to provide the service in the New York area, and now wants to to shift its licence to Los Angeles. The service would enable a business or private viewer to mount a receiver on top of a television set and, via microwave, receive entertainment or other information, which could be from a menu of programmes. The Commission initially proposed that telephone and cable television companies be eligible for licences, but has now asked for comment on whether other firms should be considered. Services made possible would include telephony, data, videoconferencing, video on demand, multimedia, other interactive services and cable television using the patented CellularVision technology, which was developed by the Suite 12 Group in Freehold, New Jersey. The system, with a three mile radius from the transmitter, uses 1GHz of spectrum to send uncompressed, frequency modulated signals at levels of quality that are unmatched in cable or broadcast television.
