Cyren Call Founder Says CTIA Arguments Are ‘Baloney’
Nextel cofounder Morgan O'Brien, chmn. of recently formed Cyren Call, accused the CTIA of “baloney” Tues. in a debate on Cyren Call’s push to dedicate 30 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum to a nationwide wireless network for public safety rather than sell the spectrum at auction. Carriers need the 700 MHz spectrum and have shown they are the nation’s most efficient users of spectrum, CTIA Asst. Vp Paul Garnett retorted.
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 FCC has yet to act on an April 27 Cyren Call petition on the proposal - the first step for the Cyren Call plan to have a chance of success. Cyren Call also has yet to spark letters from Capitol Hill backing its proposal, though several are in the works, O'Brien told us. Under Cyren’s plan, it would manage a network to be built by commercial carriers working with public safety officials.
O'Brien said Tues. he knew Cyren Call’s demands wouldn’t be popular and would draw fierce opposition from carriers. “Something must be done,” he said: “Something can be done. But I'm not sure that something will be done.” Carriers’ vehemence doesn’t surprise him, he told us. “How could I be surprised after all these years?” he said: “Disappointed? Absolutely.” Sprint Nextel and Cingular have yet to weigh in, he added: “That’s sort of the good news front.”
Without pressure policymakers likely will avoid addressing public safety’s need for wireless broadband, O'Brien said. “Rhetoric costs nothing. Rhetoric doesn’t require any painful decisions,” he said: “One thing that we will continue to be awash in is rhetoric about how grave the problem is and how it must be addressed.”
But Garnett said wireless carriers also need the 700 MHz spectrum due to growing demand for services. “In Dec. 1995 there were 34 million mobile wireless subscribers in the U.S.,” he said: “As of Dec. of last year there were over 200 million mobile subscribers and that number keeps growing every month.” Subscribers also are making many more calls - with the average U.S. subscriber making 4 times the number of calls as a mobile subscriber in Great Britain, he said.
Public safety, with 13 million users in the U.S., already is scheduled to get another 80 MHz of spectrum in the next year in various bands without adopting the Cyren Call plan. Until public safety entities start to use this spectrum -- at 700 MHz,, 800 MHz and 4.9 GHz - the need for still more spectrum is unclear, he said. “Public safety needs to make full and efficient use of spectrum already allocated to it,” he said.
Garnett also warned of serious delays, including “time consuming FCC proceedings,” that would be unavoidable if the Cyren Call proposal is adopted.
Joe Ross, wireless project manager with the D.C. govt., endorsed Cyren Call’s plan in remarks at the WCA conference. “A lot have shied away from our problems,” he said: “A lot are just criticizing public safety from the sidelines and not getting in the trenches and helping us to solve our problem… There is a crisis and we need your help to solve that crisis.”