Satellite Radio Resists FCC Airwave Proposal

The Federal Communications Commission plan to expand wireless Internet access is raising the ire of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its fans, who are concerned the effort to end a 13-year fight may interfere with satellite-radio programming.

The FCC is proposing to make it easier for the winners of a 1997 airwaves auction to use those airwaves for mobile wireless Internet and phone use. Until now, a dispute about power levels and potential interference has meant the companies were limited in how they could use the airwaves they own. The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May as part of a broader effort to devote more airwaves for wireless Internet services. Sirius XM lawyers are fighting the plan, arguing in an April 23 filing that allowing wireless providers to use those airwaves for wireless broadband will "fail to protect satellite radio's nearly 19 million subscribers and 35 million listeners from harmful interference." Although Sirius is beamed to cars and homes from satellites, the company also uses an army of antennas around the country to boost its signal. The company is concerned those ground-based broadcast signals could be overpowered by wireless gadgets using nearby airwaves. Sirius XM's signals are essentially sandwiched between airwaves set aside for wireless data use.