In the Matter of Unlicensed Operation
in the TV Broadcast Bands, ET Docket No. 04-186

Additional Spectrum for Unlicensed Devices
Below 900 MHZ and in the 3 GHz Band, ET Docket No. 02-380

PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF
THE NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION AND
THE CHAMPAIGN URBANA WIRELESS NETWORK

Media Access Project, on behalf of The New America Foundation and Champaign Urbana Wireless Network ("Petitioners"), submits the following Petition for Reconsideration of the First Report and Order in the above captioned proceeding. On the whole, Petitioners applaud the Commission for moving forward with this important proceeding. Nevertheless, the Commission should reconsider three aspects of its First Report and Order.

First, the Commission provides no justification for reopening the question on whether to authorize these devices on a licensed or unlicensed basis. The Commission had considered this very issue twice previously to its issuing of the first NPRM in Docket No. 04-186, and concluded that authorizing such devices on an unlicensed basis would best serve the public interest. Nevertheless, in the First Report and Order, the Commission determined to once again reconsider this pivotal question. Yet the Commission makes no attempt to explain why it has suddenly deviated from its previous conclusion based on public comment on the Spectrum Task Force Report and public comment in response to the NOI in Docket No. 02-380. Such an about face without any explanation beyond a general recitation of the potential benefits of licensing all of which were thoroughly explored in the two previous proceedings that culminated in the First NPRM appears arbitrary in the extreme.

Second, the Commission should reconsider its decision to prohibit mobile devices on Channels 14-20. The Commission should instead defer that decision until it makes a determination with regard to mobile devices as a whole. This initial determination at such an early stage needlessly deprives the public of the valuable services mobile devices will provide.

Finally, the Commission should reconsider its determination to prohibit marketing or sale of products until after February 17, 2009. This decision by the Commission has disproportionate impact on the open source development community, which generally must wait until chipsets become available on the market before beginning to develop open source alternatives to proprietary products. Needless delay in production of devices using the broadcast white spaces will delay the development of open source alternatives and thus delay deployment by community wireless organizations bringing affordable broadband to poor urban or rural areas.