Official Says Cyren Call is PSST’s ‘Tail’

It would be counterproductive for the FCC to separate PSST and Cyren, because Cyren brings “expertise” that PSST lacks, McEwen said. If PSST lost Cyren, it would need help from someone else, he said. Cyren is dedicated to the cause, said Morgan O'Brien, the carrier’s chairman. But he would take such a decision in stride, O'Brian said: “At age 63, I have suffered worse disappointments.”

On the panel, McEwen and O'Brien defended private-public partnerships but backed easing D-block reauction conditions. “Don’t let problems of the solution overshadow problems for which the solution was devised,” O'Brien said. The private- public partnership concept may need revision, but remains the best route to a public safety network, he said.

O'Brien and McEwen urged a better definition of how a partnership would work to cut anxiety that may have undone the D-block sale. And the FCC should drop or slash the reserve, set at $1.3 billion last time, said McEwen. The entire 700 MHz auction brought $19 billion, he noted. Some of the more severe penalties that winning bidders risk if they don’t come through also could be killed, he said. And the FCC could consider giving the winning bidder more than the mandated four years to offer service to 75 percent of the population, he said.

Cyren will frame winning the D-block as a “historic” opportunity, O'Brien said. It plans to pitch the D-block as a last chance for small carriers to obtain valuable 700 MHz spectrum, he said.

PSST wants one D-block licensee, not several, who can take service nationwide, McEwen said. Dividing spectrum among regional carriers could jeopardize population coverage, reliability and security, priority for public safety, and backup satellite service in areas terrestrial wireless can’t reach, he said. -- Adam Bender

WCA Notes…

Don’t be surprised if the FCC doesn’t reauction the D- block this year, Xanadoo CEO Mark Pagon said Tuesday on a Wireless Communications Association panel. The FCC is on a “compressed” 3-4 month time table to finish a rulemaking and reauction, he said. If no reauction occurs this year, it may not happen until late in 2009, given the turnover in government, he said. Time is short, said Hank Hultquist, AT&T regulatory vice president, terming the 700 MHz auction a “great success.” That sale, which raised $19 billion, double Congress’s estimate, created opportunities for new entrants in rural markets, and has “potential to transform wireless broadband,” he said. AT&T plans to start building out its 700 MHz winnings soon after the February 2009 DTV transition, finishing by 2011, Hultquist said. Other panelists were less enthusiastic. Xanadoo, Pagon’s company, bid without success. In terms of revenue to the Treasury, the auction was “tremendously successful,” Pagon said. But Verizon Wireless and AT&T won most of the spectrum, he said. Combined, AT&T and Verizon spent $15 billion for about 85 percent of spectrum auctioned. Panelist Patrick Riordan, Rural Cellular Association president, said his company, Nsight Telservices, got two licenses for $3 million. Nsight would have liked more, but Riordan only expected to get one because license price tags favored big players, he said. But opportunities still exist for 700 MHz auction “losers,” Riordan said. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel seem willing to partner with rural carriers on networks in smaller markets, he said. And small carriers could get 700 MHz spectrum when the D-Block is reauctioned, or if the FCC decides to sell white spaces spectrum for licensed use, he said.