Copps Still Wary of Interference from Devices Used in TV White Spaces
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps remains a “believer” in the benefits of using the broadcast white spaces for wireless broadband, but he still needs to be persuaded that the use of portable devices won’t interfere with the DTV transition, he told reporters Thursday. Copps also expressed strong support for holding an en banc hearing of the commission to examine early termination fees imposed by wireless carriers and other companies that the agency regulates.
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Copps said many questions remain about whether portable devices would cause harmful interference. The Office of Engineering and Technology released a report in late July, which said a prototype device built by Microsoft had failed crucial tests. Microsoft later said that device was broken. “I think there’s a lot of confusion about what the OET tests have proven or not proven,” Copps said. “I think we need to have some clarity as we go ahead.”
Copps said he needs to be shown that the devices can be used safely, contrary to objections by broadcasters. “I am a believer in white spaces, and I believe using them is not only desirable but imperative, and I am confident the technology is going to get us from here to there,” he said. “I am not 100 percent certain in my own mind, based on the tests we have, that that time is right this minute..”
Meanwhile, on another important wireless matter, Chairman Kevin Martin suggested last month an en banc hearing on early termination fees. Copps said a hearing was a good idea and he hoped it will take place “soon.” “This is really a consumer issue and we're all talking about trying to get wireless out here and all these new technologies and services and gadgets and everything else,” Copps said at a news conference. “You get a into a situation where consumers are discouraged from changing and moving around simply because of the presence of early termination fees which don’t always seem to have a lot of justification or a solid foundation behind them. I think we're going to be hobbling the whole wireless world.”
In 2005, CTIA asked the FCC to confirm that termination fees in wireless carriers’ service contracts are “rates charged” for CMRS, not subject to state regulation under section 332 of the Communications Act. But carriers find Martin’s and Copps’ latest comments troubling.
Copps Wants Action Soon on Special Access Proceeding
“We need to act” soon on special access, Copps said. Copps voiced concern that Martin hasn’t circulated a special access proposal. “We have to address this topic,” he said. “Special access is not a friend of small business.” Broadband deployment can be hampered if special access rates are too high for competitors to enter the market, he said. Sources say Copps and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein back stricter price controls on special access services than Martin and FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate would support, while FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell still hasn’t indicated where he stands.
Copps is “really worried” about a rise in forbearance petitions by telecom companies, he said. It’s doubtful that “deregulation by forbearance” is what Congress intended when it devised the forbearance process under the Telecom Act, he said. Asked which method bests boost broadband deployment, privately- or publicly-led, Copps said it has to be both, working as a partnership. He repeated his familiar call for a “national strategy” to bring broadband to all, saying he’s tired of “God-awful debates” about whether various initiates are “too regulatory.”
Copps had little to say on the odds of approval of the XM-Sirius merger. “Obviously it raises important questions about the… markets, competition and all that,” he said. “It’s a climb for me… Somebody is going to have to make a pretty powerful and potent demonstration that it serves the public interest.”