Communications Daily is a Warren News publication.

AirCell Tells FCC AirFone Wants to Renew Monopoly

AirCell warned the FCC in a letter sent to the 5 Commissioners that indications from the FCC are that the Commission staff is recommending a single 4 MHz license, which AirCell warned would effectively hand Verizon AirFone a continuing monopoly in commercial aviation communications. The item is scheduled for a vote at the Nov. meeting but could still fall off the agenda. An official with Verizon questioned the AirCell arguments, saying all his company has asked for is an auction, not to be the winning bidder.

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!

The letter comes amidst expectations that Nextel will file additional data at the FCC this week on the concerns it has raised repeatedly about air-to-ground (ATG) interference to other spectrum incumbents. FCC sources said they don’t anticipate Commission testing of ATG interference and may rely instead on data from the principals.

“As the anticipated time for a Commission decision nears, indications are that the Commission staff has proposed a single auction of the entire 4 MHz ATG band as the culmination of this proceeding,” the AirCell letter said. “This is, in AirCell’s view, the de facto award of that band to the incumbent, Verizon AirFone. This would be a deeply flawed result, one that flies in the face of the goals of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to promote and deploy innovative, spectrum-efficient technologies, and that ignores one of the fundamental concerns expressed in the NPRM that ’there is only one licensee remaining.'”

AirCell argued that incumbent AirFone has an unfair advantage due to its legacy presence, its huge terrestrial wireless subscriber base and deep pockets. “This combination will almost certainly exert a chilling effect on other prospective bidders in a single-license auction,” AirCell said. AirCell reminded the FCC of the few callers who make calls each year on commercial airlines under the current regime. “Such an advantaged position simply has not been earned,” AirCell said. “By every reasonable criteria the legacy AirFone service has been a failure -- underutilized and at a technological dead end. It would be absolutely inequitable for this history of failure and lack of innovation to be bootstrapped into a windfall broadband monopoly.”

Verizon Dir.-Wireless Policy Don Brittingham told us Mon. that AirCell’s arguments that AirFone has an unfair advantage don’t make sense. “We're talking about an auction,” he said. “We're asking them to offer the licenses to the highest bidder. We don’t have any advantage.” The filing raises the issue of whether AirCell just “doesn’t have the money” to make a winning bid, he said. AirFone’s primary concern remains that unless the FCC awards a single license, interference will keep anyone from offering broadband on commercial airliners. “The issue is simple: Whether the FCC wants broadband or it doesn’t,” he said.