EDUCATION GROUPS LOBBY FCC HARD ON ITFS
Leading education groups are ramping up pressure on the FCC to back away from a plan to take 18 MHz away from ITFS as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation (CD May 26 p4). Education groups met with Comr. Abernathy Wed. and hope for meetings with the other Commissioners by June 3, when the Commission has to decide whether to put an ITFS order on the June 10 meeting agenda.
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“We had a very receptive meeting with one of the Commissioners yesterday,” Todd Gray, counsel to the ITFS Assn., told us Thurs.: “That was hopeful. At the moment, from our perspective, it appears the educational community is really turning out in force. Whether anyone is listening we don’t know.” The ITFS Assn. and related groups said they've sought a meeting with Chmn. Powell for months and it’s expected next week. Powell is viewed as the key commissioner on the issue.
Ed Lavergne, counsel to the National Catholic TV Network, said he was hopeful FCC would rethink the order after the meetings: “With education being such a high priority in the Bush administration, I would find it difficult to believe that with this outpouring of support the FCC would take an action that would severely impair the ability of educators to use this spectrum for their benefit in the years ahead.” Groups including the American Assn. of Community Colleges, the American Assn. of State Colleges & Universities, the American Council on Education, the Assn. of Public TV Stations, Internet2, the National Assn. of State Universities & Land Grant Colleges, and the University Continuing Education Assn., endorsed a letter expressing concern about a possible spectrum reduction.
“We urge you to reject proposals to allow any ITFS spectrum to be sold to commercial entities, or to reduce the total amount of spectrum allocated to ITFS,” the groups wrote the FCC: “Loss of the spectrum would be a terrible blow to education.”
Groups representing kindergarten through 12th grade (K- 12) educators filed a letter at the FCC seeking delay of any vote on the ITSF plan. “K-12 institutions have used ITFS extensively since its inception in the 1960s to provide services such as distance learning, videoconference capability and professional development programs. K-12 schools use ITFS to deliver courses and professional development wirelessly to remote sites and to transmit virtual courses and other information to wide audiences through one-way video and 2-way broadband applications,” the groups said.
Wayne State U. Pres. Irvin Reid said in a statement that ITFS plays a key role for education. “It provides for distance learning, enables students to take classes at home or at night, and enhances students’ access to a wide range of educational resources. We are shocked that the FCC would consider taking spectrum away from education -- this will have a serious and immediate impact on our ability to serve students.”
Sheldon Steinbach, pres. of the American Council on Education, said many of his members are watching the proceeding closely: “Should proposals to commercialize or take ITFS away become a reality, institutions from all sectors of higher education in nearly every state will lose the control of this valuable resource that is essential to its further development as an educational tool.”