Cyren Call considers itself in a long term audition to run a proposed public safety broadband trust but expects competition, Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien said in an interview for C-SPAN’s series “The Communicators” that was set to air over the weekend. O'Brien conceded that time is running short, with the 700 MHz auction expected to start as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) made good on a promise to introduce legislation that would set aside 30 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum for a public-safety broadband network.
Any “regulation” requiring net neutrality for wireless broadband could hamper what has become the fastest growing way of connecting to the Internet, CTIA told the FTC. Nearly 60% of new high-speed lines Dec. 2005-June 2006 were mobile broadband wireless lines, CTIA said. The written comments addressed issues raised in a Feb. FTC summit on broadband connectivity competition policy
Brownsville, Tex., signed a $4 million contract with IBM to build a citywide wireless Internet network used by city workers and offered to public users. The network, at first based on Wi-Fi, is expected to evolve to WiMAX as equipment for mobile access becomes available. “We will use a multitude of technologies,” IBM official Kevin Mazzatta told us: “The discussion is about making sure we have the right technology. It is not always licensed or unlicensed. In this case we have a combination.” Mazzatta said Brownsville is the first city identified as using IBM’s new Digital Communities Service Product, and other announcements are coming. “We're growing at a record pace, and the best way for Brownsville to provide city services is by embracing new technology,” City Mgr. Charlie Cabler said: “We'll see a wide range of improvements with this modernization effort, ranging from local police getting wireless access to criminal databases, providing more knowledge in the field, to our citizens being able to more quickly apply for building permits and inspections online instead of through the mail or at a city office.”
Carriers have been “disingenuous” in contending that public safety will already have plenty of good spectrum at 700 after the DTV transition, and won’t don’t need more, said David Boyd, dir.-command, control & interoperability at DHS. “They haven’t got a clue what emergency operations are like or what is required,” Boyd said during an FCBA lunch Wed.
Sprint Nextel doesn’t plan to bid on spectrum in the 700 MHz auction later this year or early 2008, top executives said Wed. in a call on Q4 and year-end financial results. At year-end Sprint had $2 billion cash that it will use to buy back stock and for other purposes, not as spectrum bait. “At this time we have no interest in participation in that,” CEO Gary Forsee said: “We've got the best spectrum position of any of the carrier competitors.”
The FCC approved a waiver request by Crown Castle letting the company transmit video and audio to cellphones using its Modeo service at up to 20 times previously authorized power levels. The order is especially important in suggesting that the FCC may also allow higher power levels for broadband PCS and AWS transmissions, sources said. CTIA asked for high power levels in the FCC’s biennial review.
Cyren Call needs more than 12 MHz of spectrum to set up a robust wireless broadband public safety network, it told the FCC. Cyren, which wants a 30 MHz network, said 12 MHz, to be carved out of 24 MHz scheduled for public safety after the DTV transition, simply isn’t enough. No plan using so little spectrum makes investment sense, it said. A Dec. FCC NPRM asked how the agency should change the rules for the 24 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum public safety gets after transition (CD Dec 21 p7).
FCC Chmn. Martin named Derek Poarch, U. of N.C. police chief, the first permanent head of the Public Safety Bureau. Since it opened in Sept., the Bureau has been run by Ken Moran, an FCC staffer with no law enforcement experience, prompting safety officials to press for a chief from their world. Poarch, chief of police at Martin’s undergraduate alma mater, heads a department of 300 full and part-time employees. Several sources said Fri. they were surprised Martin hadn’t picked a chief with a higher profile. But Harlin McEwen, a former police chief who represents law enforcement groups on spectrum issues, endorsed Martin’s choice. “It shows the chairman’s commitment to the public safety community to address our critical needs,” he said.
FCC designated entity (DE)rules guarantee minority investors will avoid spectrum auctions, said Mosaic Partners, a new minority investors group. A filing by the group, which last week began meeting with agency officials, came as the FCC contemplates rules for the 700 MHZ auction, which could begin as early as summer.
Chmn. Martin indicated Fri. he’s considering proposing Carterfone-style rules for wireless networks, indicating to reporters after the FCC meeting in Harrisburg, Pa. that he hasn’t reached any conclusions. The FCC must strike an “appropriate balance” between innovation by equipment makers and investment by carriers in their networks, Martin said. He drew parallels to cable telephony, where the FCC is also considering imposing Carterfone requirements: “We're now in the process of making sure we can do that on the cable side… With wireless it depends to some degree on competition among the wireless networks.”