Auctions, Parity Top Martin Agenda for Wireless

Industry shouldn’t read anything into the fact that the FCC has no permanent a Wireless Bureau chief a year after he became chairman, Martin told us. Catherine Seidel is acting chief. “Cathy is doing a great job,” Martin said: “I have made a lot of changes at the Commission over time and I think Cathy is doing a great job down there. I'm focused on just moving things along.”

Other commissioners are weighing proposals from Martin for addressing waivers for tier 1 carriers unable to meet a 2005 deadline that 95% of subscribers have location-capable handsets, he said. The FCC likely will address petitions for waiver on a carrier-by-carrier basis, though he circulated the orders together since they present “similar issue,” he said.

“We've been trying to evaluate them on the merits, each one,” Martin said: “I have put forth proposals to the other commissioners on how we should end up addressing them… I'm not going to comment on any of the particular waivers.” He said while addressing each carrier separately, “I tried to give them to the commissioners in a batch and we talked about them as a group so that they could see the full context.”

Creation of a homeland security bureau at the FCC remains on track, Martin said. “The Commission restructuring involves not only the Commission adoption of an order like we did at the open meeting, but then we also have to notify Congress,” he said. “We're continuing on through that process and there are no anticipated problems that I know of.”

Asked about a pending order on designated entity rules for the advanced wireless services auction, and reports that an FCC order would impose significant restrictions on relationships between DEs and carriers (CD April 5 p2), Martin said the Commission had opened a proceeding only at other commissioners’ insistence: “I wasn’t sure that the rules needed to be changed for the upcoming auction, but several other of the other commissioners thought it was critical.”

CTIA Pres. Steve Largent interviewed Martin on stage for the event’s opening session. Asked about implications as the lines between communications services blur, Martin said the phenomenon points to the “great demand for spectrum” and the need to move forward on advanced wireless services (AWS) and 700 MHz auctions. “For any of those devices in the wireless environment to function… you've got to make sure that there’s enough spectrum out there,” he said. “That’s been certainly one of the top priorities for the Commission to try to make sure that we're moving forward as quickly as we can with several different auction procedures.”

Martin said 700 MHz spectrum, to be made available after the DTV transition, will figure in wireless sector growth. Nontraditional carriers like Google and Microsoft may invest in the spectrum, he acknowledged. “It’s very rich spectrum in its ability to carry data at relatively low power and still be able to penetrate walls very easily,” he said. The FCC will make sure the 700 MHz auction, expected in 2008, remains “on track,” he said. Once consumers “get a taste for” broadband access they will have wirelessly at 700 MHz demand will be strong, he said.

Content regulation and other areas of concern in the wireline and broadcast worlds regarding mobile devices will get increasing attention at the FCC, Martin said. “I know that the CTIA has taken several important steps in trying to address that issue, come up with some parameters and some things the industry can do on a self regulatory basis,” he said: “It raises similar issues related to things like disability access… things like hearing aide compatibility in wireless devices.”

CTIA Chmn. and Sprint Nextel COO Len Lauer, who opened the conference, said the sector’s future is brighter than ever despite analysts’ sometimes skeptical assessments. “We hear from analysts who say, well, you're near 70% penetration rates, are you able to hold up the average revenue per users?” Lauer said. “Will people really take off in terms of looking at the wireless device as being the 3rd screen in their life with streaming video, with online music downloads, with gaming, ringtones, location-based services?” Lauer said if analysts are skeptical, “we'll prove them wrong.”

Lauer said as matter of fairness carriers shouldn’t face additional regulatory mandates because pretexters have managed to get customer calling records. “We don’t condone these actions,” he said. “A number of us, including Sprint Nextel, have been suing these companies, and we're also working with Congress and especially the Senate… to make sure the focus is on the bad guys and make sure that there are very stiff fines and penalties put in place for bad actors but not to paint us all with one broad brush.”