Rural service areas complain of excessive MSA power

Mobile Phone News, August 16, 1990

RURAL SERVICE AREAS COMPLAIN OF EXCESSIVE MSA POWER

Now that the Rural Service Areas (RSA) are coming online, many RSAs, from Illinois to Virginia, are discovering that their Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) neighbors are transmitting into their Cellular Geographical Service Areas (CGSA).

The problem is that the boundaries of the RSAs do not stop frequency transmission. According to the FCC, the RSA boundaries were set up to accommodate economic needs and do not follow existing frequency patterns. The FCC requires the applicants' engineering to follow the 39 dbu contour - signal strength.

...MSA's Increased Power Could be `Secondary and Void'

If an MSA could not cover its area because of terrain, it could file a de minimus extension which would extend the boundary of its CGSA and adequately cover the appropriate area. There is a condition in the de minimus extension that states if the MSA causes interference with a neighboring system the extension is secondary and is void.

According to 3 RSAs and the FCC, there is little that can be done to cure the interference problem. Steve Markendorff, chief of the Cellular Radio Branch, stated that it is in the best interest of the MSAs and RSAs to cooperate with each other in order to be competitive. The name of the game is wide-area compatible coverage. Markendorff suggested that the RSA and MSA get together and talk out the problem. It "should be a give and take." As a last resort, the FCC would mediate a solution. Markendorff said that the FCC does not have the resources to regulate disputes concerning signal strength. In the past, operators have worked out interference problems through self regulation.

...There Is No Easy Solution

Sam Krause of Minerich Engineering agrees with Markendorff. There is no easy solution to this problem and as the RSAs come online the disputes will increase. According to Krause, "the FCC did not do a great job when it set up the RSA boundaries." Some of the RSAs are set up so no matter how the system is engineered, there is still the interference from the neighboring MSA.

According to another RSA, the neighboring MSA has the upper hand in the signal strength battle. "The MSA is more experienced, already established, and does not have to deal fairly with the RSA," the source said. According to the RSA, it was told by the MSA that the MSA does not have to alter its power because of its FCC-sanctioned de minimus extension. According to Markendorff, a de minimus extension is only valid if it doesn't cause interference.