Verizon Wireless Push for Quicker 700 MHz Auction Could Kill Cyren Call Plan
Verizon Wireless is pushing the FCC to move up the starting date for the 700 MHz auction, which could effectively kill a Cyren Call proposal for a wireless broadband network serving public safety using 700 MHz spectrum, sources said. Meanwhile, even though the FCC had held it cannot reallocate the spectrum without Congressional action, the agency has been inundated with comments in recent days in support of the Cyren plan.
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 best attack on Cyren Call is to take the most valuable thing away from them they have, which is time,” said a wireless industry source. “It’s going to take Cyren Call additional time to build support for their proposal and if Verizon can shorten that window it makes it tougher for Cyren Call.” The source said Cyren Call is likely reassessing how its fortunes have changed with the Democratic takeover of Congress. “They've got to get legislation and, fundamentally, it just hinges on how much traction they're getting on the Hill,” the source said: “If anything, the change on the Hill might be helpful for them.”
A regulatory attorney said Verizon Wireless hasn’t made a secret of its goal of moving up the 700 MHz auction to as early as possible. Currently, the auction is expected in late 2007 or early 2008, but Verizon Wireless reportedly would prefer a mid-2007 start date. Verizon Wireless had no comment Wed. CTIA has advocated starting the auction no later than the fall of 2007. Wireless carriers disagree on whether the auction should be held earlier than planned, but as a group oppose any delay.
“The easiest way to run out the clock is to shorten it and I think the behavior is predictable that they [Verizon Wireless] would try to speed up the auction date,” Bruce Cox, vp-govt. relations for Cyren Call, told us. “It’s obvious to us that Verizon is opposed to what Cyren is attempting to do and starting the debate for the best use of the 30 MHz at 700 MHz.”
One wireless industry source said speeding the auction would offer many advantages the Commission should consider. “Accelerating the auction brings funds into the Treasury to support the interoperability grants and the set-top box subsidy in the DTV bill,” the source said: “Implementation of the DTV bill furthers the goal of the 911 Commission to make 24 MHz of the 700 MHz spectrum available to public safety.”
The FCC’s Public Safety Bureau ruled early this month that the Commission couldn’t by itself reallocate 30 MHz of spectrum for a public safety broadband network. Instead, because of the DTV Act of 2005, Cyren Call has to take its case directly to Congress, the Bureau said (CD Nov 7 p1). The Bureau handed down an order just days after the agency put Cyren Call’s petition for rulemaking out for comment.
The Mich. Assn. of Fire Chiefs was among the groups to weigh in on Cyren Call’s behalf in a docket that remains open, even though the Bureau has already held against a Cyren petition. “This proposal is innovative and, for the first time, cohesively resolves the multitude of problems contributing to public safety’s communications problems,” the group said. “It is apparent that our nation’s first responders continue to rely upon antiquated technology, expensive equipment and stove-piped systems throughout the country that cannot communicate with each other,” wrote Keith Richter, chief in the Contra Costa Fire Protection District in Cal. “There exists currently a very unique opportunity to use a contiguous, 30 MHz block of frequencies in the upper 700 MHz band to provide public safety an advanced, nationwide communications network that would be controlled by public safety and harness the economic benefits of a shared public/private partnership with commercial wireless operators.”
Cox said many public safety groups encouraged members to weigh in on the FCC public notice as a way to influence the Hill. Cox said the change to Democratic control and new leadership in Congress won’t make a difference on how Cyren Call lobbies for the 700 MHz spectrum. “We've been working with public safety to craft legislation and we're still in that process,” Cox said. “We've recognized that this type of legislation would need a bipartisan effort to get it through because the margins are thin and anybody could potentially stop it.”