Silicon Valley Gives Martin Earful on Carterfone Questions
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Cal. -- FCC Chmn. Martin said Silicon Valley pelted him with “lots of concerns” about the wireless industry “stifling” innovation in handsets and applications. Alluding to Skype’s petition to apply the Carterfone rules to cellular, he told the Churchill Club technology-business forum here Thurs. that his comments were constrained by the pending Commission proceeding.
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 Commission would have to look at any takeover of Dow Jones by News Corp., because it would involve newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market, N.Y.C., Martin said during the wide-ranging session, but “I don’t have any particular expectation on it.”
“Protracted litigation” common in the “very contentious area” of broadcast indecency “eliminates some of the deterrent effect” of fines, Martin conceded. Asked about Don Imus, he said “obviously his remarks were offensive,” but the FCC has no authority over “hate speech per se.” It’s always preferable for “the market,” not govt., to address offensive expression, Martin said
On cable a la carte, Martin said: “I'm extremely optimistic, but I don’t know where it ends up.” He compared pay-TV companies’ offering channels only in large bundles with requiring people who want Business Week subscriptions also to take Guns & Ammo. “I don’t think that system makes any sense,” Martin said.
The Commission has set up its 700 MHz auction rules to allow for national or large regional service areas that high tech and satellite interests have declared important to add to the broadband market, Martin said. The U.S. needs “multiple wireless players as well” as cable and telcos in broadband, he said. He didn’t answer directly how many broadband wireless competitors he wants within markets.
Martin disputed the premise of a question about whether resale of unused spectrum shows that the federal govt. is missing out on much of its financial value. Secondary market sales allow “innovation to continue… I'm not sure that in itself is a problem.” The Commission worries more about incumbents securing spectrum and sitting on it to keep out competitors, he said.
Martin said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with Comr. Copps that public safety needs spectrum of its own in the 700 MHz band. But public safety can’t always afford to build “state of the art” networks to use the spectrum, a problem that public-private partnerships can deal with through “cross-utilization” of spectrum, he said. - Louis Trager