INDUSTRY DEMANDS MORE SPECTRUM FOR BROADBAND
Several companies and associations used a call by the FCC for comments on broadband wireless issues to plead for more spectrum for emerging technologies. Most commenters also stressed that the FCC must give companies flexibility in using spectrum while providing more certain rules of the road.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
FCC asked 12 questions last month, concurrent with the launch of the Wireless ISP (WISP) Task Force as it examines ways to spur the growth of WISPs, a priority of Chmn. Powell. The written comments were intended to complement oral testimony the task force heard during a May 19 forum at the FCC (CD May 20 p9).
“Simply put, TIA believes that more spectrum should be made available for wireless broadband access,” TIA said in its comments: “There is no doubt that the demand for wireless broadband services will continue to grow rapidly. Licensed CMRS providers today are rolling out ‘3G’ services, and Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies continue to penetrate the residential, enterprise, and public sectors. In TIA’s view, these are two harbingers of the public’s desire for the wireless broadband applications of tomorrow.”
But TIA warned that one-size-fits all regulation won’t work for the new wireless services. “The ‘licensing lite’ model recently adopted by the Commission in the 70, 80, and 90 GHz bands is a useful mechanism for reconciling the need for exclusivity in spectrum, while creating a service that has low barriers to entry,” TIA said: “However, the ‘licensing lite’ model is by no means the only appropriate model for licensing wireless broadband systems.”
Motorola said many new communications devices headed for the market need spectrum to operate. The company cited its “enterprise phone,” which uses Wi-Fi and cellular standards to allow users to switch voice calls from a wireless local area network to a wide-area cellular network, or its dual- mode “world phone” that operates on GSM and CDMA networks. “Motorola generally supports the allocation of sufficient quantities of spectrum with well-defined spectrum access rights and technical standards,” the company said: “While the Commission must be careful to not impose standards that unnecessarily restrict access or impede technological advances, structured regulations designed for specific broadband applications typically provide the best environment for successful product deployments.”
Cingular Wireless agreed more spectrum is critical: “In the numerous dockets regarding access to high speed services, the record clearly demonstrates a need for additional spectrum devoted to licensed services” The company noted that in the U.K. 2 incumbents have 60 MHz for 2G services and 25 MHz for 3G.
CTIA said the FCC should promote a “stable regulatory environment that relies primarily on market forces and avoids intrusive regulation of new and evolving technologies and services.” It also said federal, not state, policies should predominate. “The Task Force should consider ways to enable further wireless broadband deployment in rural areas and should ensure that wireless broadband providers have the same opportunities in rural areas as their wireline competitors,” CTIA said.
The Wireless Communications Assn. said the FCC could do substantial good by wrapping up the current MMDS/ITFS rulemaking and allowing secondary spectrum markets to prosper. WCA noted that many of the principles the FCC should follow were incorporated in the report by the Spectrum Policy task Force: “Regardless of the spectrum at issue, the FCC must remain focused on the core principle of flexible use, and let the marketplace, not regulation, determine how, when and where new services and technologies will be introduced to consumers.”
The Commission’s wireless broadband policy should be dictated by such principles as regulatory parity and reliance on market forces, BellSouth said. “BellSouth views wireless DSL as an attractive option for bringing broadband service into areas where, for the foreseeable future, it will remain economically or technically infeasible to offer wired broadband via cable modem, DSL, or fiber optic distribution facilities,” the company said: “Moreover, the inherent portability of wireless broadband provides consumers with greater flexibility than any wired service can offer; thus, wireless DSL may be preferred by some customers even though they are capable of obtaining broadband service over fixed lines.”