U.S. airlines, airports battle over Wi-Fi spectrum

We may want to watch this, as it could set a BAD precident...


 >US airlines, airports battle
 >over Wi-Fi spectrum issues
 >Bob Brewin, Computerworld
 >
 >06/21/2004
 >
 >The airport authority-controlled Wi-Fi networks at several airports
 >are shaping up as ground zero in an emerging battle between
 >airlines and airports over the use, regulation and management of
 >wireless networks at the facilities.
 >
 >A wireless network at Logan International Airport in Boston, a
 >similar system at Denver International Airport (DIA) and others
 >planned for the Raleigh-Durham International and Los Angeles
 >International airports are at the center of a fight over the unlicensed
 >wireless spectrum used to support a wide range of applications,
 >from passenger Internet access to remote check-in kiosks.
 >
 >When Logan turns on an airportwide Wi-Fi network next week,
 >airlines and their passengers will have to pay to use the network,
 >something United Airlines Inc. views as an "unnecessary expense,"
 >according to Mike Mader, a ground systems radio engineer who
 >handles Wi-Fi installations for United.
 >
 >While passengers can choose whether or not to pay for access
 >to Wi-Fi hot spots at Logan, airlines, which use Wi-Fi networks
 >to support key applications such as bag tracking, have no choice,
 >according to Barbara Platt, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts
 >Port Authority. Massport, which operates Logan, requires airlines
 >and other airport tenants to use the Universal Wireless Ethernet
 >System (UWES) installed at the airport, Platt said.
 >
 >United, a division of UAL has installed its own Wi-Fi networks to
 >support bag-scanning operations at numerous airports, including
 >its Chicago hub. But Mader said the carrier will have to use the
 >Massport network under the mandate imposed on all airport tenants.
 >That's not as cost-effective as United installing and operating its
 >own network, Mader said.
 >
 >Platt said the UWES provides for better management of the wireless
 >spectrum at the airport and "ensures Wi-Fi runs smoothly for all users."
 >Platt declined to provide pricing details.
 >
 >TWI Interactive, developed the Logan network in partnership with
 >Electronic Media Systems. TWI said its five-year contract guarantees
 >Massport a minimum payment of US$200,000 in the first year of the
 >pact and as much as US$300,000 in the fifth, up to a maximum of 20
 >percent of gross revenue. That revenue could exceed US $1 million
 >annually.
 >
 >Chuck Cannon, a spokesman for DIA, said payments from its Wi-Fi
 >contractor, AT&T Wireless Services, could run about US$250,000
 >per month. Like Massport, DIA maintains that it needs to manage the
 >Wi-Fi spectrum in the unlicensed 2.4- and 5-GHz bands to ensure
 >frequency and spectrum coordination, according to Jim Winston,
 >director for telecommunications at the airport. DIA is owned and
 >operated by the city of Denver.
 >
 >"If we don't coordinate, it's going to be a zoo out there," Winston said.
 >If the airport let all its tenants install Wi-Fi networks, "there would be
 >mass confusion," he said.
 >
 >Jeremy Denton, director of government affairs for the Industrial
 >Telecommunications Association (ITA) said that from his perspective,
 >revenue -- not frequency coordination -- stands behind the move by
 >airport authorities to control Wi-Fi networks. The ITA is a trade group
 >that counts among its members airport Wi-Fi users such as United,
 >FedEx and United Parcel Service.
 >
 >In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission in March,
 >the ITA said that the "sole motivational goal" by airports to regulate
 >Wi-Fi use "is to increase the airport authority's revenue." The ITA
 >has asked the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling against airports'
 >attempts to regulate the unlicensed spectrum, saying they have no
 >legal standing to do so under FCC rules.
 >
 >While Denton would like to see the FCC rule quickly, he predicted
 >that the agency would put the ITA filing out for public comment, a
 >process that could take a year or more. Massport's Platt and DIA's
 >Cannon both declined to comment on the filing.
 >
 >Based on his experience at DIA, Mader said not only do airport-
 >controlled Wi-Fi systems impose extra costs, they don't immediately
 >deliver what's promised. Mader said he has worked since October
 >to resolve coverage and interference issues with the AT&T Wireless
 >network at DIA because the access points installed for the Wi-Fi
 >network used by United for its bag-scanning system don't provide
 >the needed coverage.
 >
 >United wanted the access points to cover the ramp area out to and
 >beyond the tail of a Boeing 777 to support scanning of late bags
 >loaded into the plane, but the signal didn't reach that far. Mader
 >said United also experienced interference from another 2.4-GHz
 >network, which was traced to the DIA central car-rental facility,
 >close to a mile from United's gates. All these coverage and interference
 >problems have now been resolved, but it took about six months longer
 >than the time it would have taken United to do the job on its own,
 >Mader said.
 >
 >Winston blamed United for the problems, saying the airline was
 >unable to figure out coverage issues on its own. "They don't have
 >the expertise," he said.
 >
 >John Killeen, global network systems manager at UPS, said the
 >company operates Wi-Fi networks to sort packages at about 90
 >airports. Airport attempts to control Wi-Fi spectrum are a minor
 >issue today, but if the FCC ruled in favor of airports as a result
 >of the ITA petition, airport control could become a "potential problem."
 >Killeen said he would like to see the FCC act quickly on the ITA petition.
 >
 >Ken Pasley, director of wireless business development at FedEx,
 >which also uses Wi-Fi systems to sort packages, said airport attempts
 >to control spectrum "could clearly affect us," though probably not as
 >much as passenger carriers, since FedEx operations are far from
 >terminals where shared-use networks have been installed.
 >
 >Pasley said he supports the ITA petition and views airport-owned
 >and managed Wi-Fi networks as a way for them to boost revenue.
 >
 >Source: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;702782156;fp;16;fpid;0

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