FCC'S KNAPP PREDICTS ACTION ON 3G BY END OF YEAR

Among issues that needed to be dealt with in allocation for 3G were service rules on issues such as “band plan, how do you deal with the geographic areas, should they use combinatorial bidding and then the issue of aggregation limits,” conference spokeswoman said after panel. Consensus at meeting seemed to expect final order in middle of next year and auction year later, she said. Knapp said any talk of including 1755-1770 MHz currently used by federal govt. in discussion was moot now. In Administration’s 3G viability assessment released earlier this year, Defense Dept. (DoD) had agreed to clear most of 1710-1755 MHz but said freeing 1755-1770 MHz wasn’t tenable by 2008 time frame covered by study.

As for wireless spectrum cap, which is to sunset by year-end, spokeswoman said that when FCC did get rid of spectrum caps it would be on case-by-case review, and one of contexts in which Commission did that was in licensing new spectrum. Agency last fall voted to repeal wireless spectrum cap by Jan. 1, 2003, raising it to 55 MHz in all markets in interim.

On issue of ultra wideband, OET Chief Ed Thomas said current testing basically was measuring devices other than ultra-wide devices because they weren’t around. But he said there was nothing in tests that suggested rules should be more conservative that they already were. Knapp said later that results of ultra wideband tests would be released shortly and there would be no change in 12-18-month time frame already established by Commission.

Speakers also discussed lingering issues involving need to shift some licensees around in 800 MHz spectrum. FCC officials, despite saying that opponents were seeking fast action, gave no indication of when that move would be made. Also discussed was E911, with Paul Margie, aide to Comr. Copps, citing issue needs industrywide cooperation and calling on (Public Service Access Points (PSAPs) and LECs to step up to plate with wireless carriers.

FCC Comr. Martin remains concerned over universal service fund for carriers, aide Samuel Feder said. He repeated Martin’s worries about legality of connection based approach. He said problem was whether move away from straight revenue to connection-based approach somehow would go against statute since it said all carriers providing interstate service should contribute and connection approach could exclude some.

Despite urging from Margie, other FCC officials remained unwilling to look again at CTIA petition for rulemaking on privacy and security issues involving wireless location information. FCC in July turned down CTIA request to adopt wireless location information privacy rules covering areas such as security and integrity of consumer data. Saying consumers continued to list privacy and security as major concerns with wireless devices, Margie compared industry to credit card business several decades ago, in which collaborative effort between govt. and that industry reassured consumers and triggered boom in credit card industry. -- David Ward

CTIA Conference Notebook…

Combination of heightened govt. interest in security and explosion of wireless communications by federal workers has increased need for stronger technologies and policies to ensure safe delivery of wired and wireless messages and data, National Security Assn. (NSA) officials told Federal Wireless Workers Forum workshop in Las Vegas Thurs. NSA officials Bob Nowak and Tim Havighurst outlined multipronged strategy for federal employees to ensure secure wired and wireless messages that included encryption, strong passwords, FIPS (Federal Information Protection System)-compliant cryptography, strong policy that made sure shortcuts such as “backdoor” codes that enabled convenient entrance into networks were eliminated. They said attacks could range from denial of service, software Trojan horses and rogue applications to danger that hackers with modest array of equipment nearby could position themselves as middle men in wireless transmission between 2 secure devices. In noting potentially sensitive data that could be passed between RIM Blackberry users in Washington, alone, Nowak said: “All the attacks are really compounded when talking about wireless.” Federal workers with sensitive information should combine software certification with hardware keys such as USB key fobs and biometrics checks, he said. Among suggestions was implementation biometrics such as fingerprint or retinal scanners to assure identity, “hash” algorithms for encryption and use of “wet signature” technology -- so named because it’s as reliable as just signed document -- that ensures persons sending or receiving data are who they say they are.