FCC to Miss Self-Imposed June Deadline for 700 MHz Rules
The FCC probably won’t adopt 700 MHz auction and service rules this month, Comr. Adelstein told reporters Wed. after an appearance at the WCA convention. “I'm hoping we can get this done no later than July,” he said. “Because we're not doing it at the meeting it doesn’t look hopeful for getting it done in June. We need to move fast,” so bidders have time to prepare.
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The order is being drafted as the Wireless Bureau wades through “an enormous record,” Wireless Bureau Chief Fred Campbell told a panel later in the day. The rules will try to strike a balance letting those with business plans of all sizes into the band, he said, adding that he isn’t “100% sure” when the rules will be finalized: “We will get an order out in time to give everyone time to plan to commence an auction before Jan. 28.” Congress required that the 700 MHz spectrum, freed by the DTV transition, be auctioned before Jan. 28, 2008.
Campbell left the door open for rules to enable nationwide licensing, but Adelstein was more pessimistic. “It’s going to be very difficult for any player to put together a competitive bid for a nationwide license at this point, other than the incumbents themselves,” he told reporters: “We're talking about a multibillion dollar commitment at the auction, followed by perhaps a $10-15 billion buildout requirement. Companies don’t make that kind of investment on the fly.” The 4G Coalition, made up of DBS players and Silicon Valley heavyweights, wants the FCC to create a nationwide license.
On the public safety side of the 700 MHz debate, Adelstein wants Congress to tell the FCC how to deal with safety issues raised by the Frontline Wireless and Cyren Call proposals, he said. The Commission needs “guidance on what to do with the Frontline proposal, guidance on whether to have an E-block, what the rules should be governing it” he said. Public safety needs to come together and tell the FCC exactly what it wants, said Adelstein: “We're not here to help any commercial entity.”
As the FCC debates public safety issues, D.C.’s deputy CTO told a WCA audience “there is a place for a national broadband network.” The network should blend national infrastructure and regional networks, like one for D.C. region to start running this year, said Robert LeGrand. The federal govt. needs to build part of the network; unlike rural America, in urban areas regional bodies can be formed, said LeGrand. The jackpot would be for the military to join, he said. That demands wide collaboration, said Dean Popps, principal deputy to the Asst. Army Secy.-acquisition, logistics & technology.
Separately, CTIA touted a report challenging the conclusions reached economists hired by Frontline, who argued for open access and restrictions on incumbent participation (CD May 23 p1). “We explain that there are procompetitive reasons for the incumbent carriers to participate in the E- block auction,” the Wed. report’s authors wrote: “We also explain that Frontline’s economists have failed to demonstrate that incumbent carriers have both the ability and incentive to warehouse spectrum.”