PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 DA 12-466 Released: March 26, 2012 Office of Engineering and Technology Announces the Approval of Telcordia Technologies, Inc.’s TV Bands Database System for Operation ET Docket No. 04-186 The Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) announces that it has granted approval for Telcordia Technologies, Inc. to operate its “TV bands database system” to provide service to the public.1 This database system will support unlicensed radio devices that transmit on unused channels in the spectrum bands used by broadcast television (TV white spaces, or TVWS). As discussed below, however, OET is not providing authorization for Telcordia to begin providing service to TV bands devices until the Commission completes and activates its system for approving registrations to protect wireless microphone use at large event/performance venues. OET may, however, authorize operations by the Telcordia database to serve one or more localized areas prior to the activation of this unlicensed wireless microphone venues registration system where Telcordia coordinates with local officials and other stakeholders to ensure that appropriate protection is provided for any such venues. The Commission’s Part 15 rules (47 C.F.R. § 15.701 et seq.) require that unlicensed TV band devices (TVBDs) contact an authorized database system to obtain a list of channels that are available for their operation (i.e. channels not occupied by authorized radio services) at their individual locations and operate only on those channels. These devices are required to provide their geographic locations by means of a secure Internet connection to a TV bands database system authorized by the Commission. The database will then return a list of channels available for operation by the device for its reported location. The FCC rules require that TV bands database systems protect the following radio services: (1) broadcast television stations (including full power, TV translator, low power TV, and Class A stations); (2) fixed broadcast auxiliary service (BAS) links (regular licensed and temporary); (3) receive sites (and received channels) of TV translator, low power TV, and Class A TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs); (4) private land mobile and commercial mobile radio service operations; (5) offshore radio telephone service operations; (6) radio astronomy operations at specific sites; and (7) low power auxiliary service operations (principally licensed and certain approved unlicensed wireless microphone venue sites). Except for MVPD receive sites, sites where licensed wireless microphones are used, and approved unlicensed wireless microphone venues, the necessary protection data will either be extracted by Telcordia from the Commission’s databases or are specified in the rules. Operators of facilities for which information is contained in the Commission’s records or provided in the rules do not need to take any action to obtain protection from TV bands devices. 1 See Letter to Mr. John Malyar of Telcordia dated March 26, 2012. This letter is available in the Commission’s EDOCS records system under ET Docket No. 04-186, DA 12-465. Operators of MVPD receive sites, wireless microphones users, and operators of temporary BAS links must specifically register their sites to receive protection from TV bands devices. As required under the rules, Telcordia is providing facilities for registering for these operations through its TVWS database system website at: http://www.telcordia.com/whitespaces. The rules also provide that responsible parties may request that the Commission approve registrations for protection of venues where unlicensed wireless microphones are used. These requests will be made available for public comment, and the Commission will subsequently review them for approval. All registrations entered with a given TV bands database will be communicated to the other TV bands database(s) so that registrations will not need to be entered in multiple databases. Currently, the Commission has also approved the Spectrum Bridge, Inc. TV bands database system for operation (see Public Notice released December 22, 2011, DA 11-2044). The Commission’s registration system for venues where large numbers of unlicensed wireless microphones are used is still under development and is expected to be operational in the near future. Until this system is operational and affected parties have an opportunity to register their venues to obtain protection, OET cannot provide a general authorization to Telcordia or any other TV bands database administrator to provide service from its database system to TV white space devices. However, OET states that it will consider favorably a request from Telcordia to provide immediate service from its database system in a limited geographic area. For such an area, OET would accept and process any requests for registration of venues where large numbers of unlicensed microphones might be used and then direct Telcordia to create a registration record for the venue. OET will notify Telcordia when the Commission’s unlicensed wireless microphone registration system is completed and inform it of the date on which it may begin providing service to TV bands devices. Questions regarding this Public Notice may be directed to Alan Stillwell at (202) 418-2470 or Hugh L. Van Tuyl at (202) 418-7506. By the Chief, Office of Engineering and Technology. -FCC-