CHICAGO -- Long-promised innovations like ultra-speedy fiber networks and smart cellphones that replace wallets are here, executives of top communications companies said Wed. at the NXTcomm show. In his speech, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said his company, now trialing 100 Mbps speed in its FIOS Internet service, this fall will begin using “GPON” technology that boosts speeds four times downstream and eight times upstream.
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
As the FCC wrestles with the 700 MHz band service and auction rules, Verizon Wireless wants the agency to revise the rules it adopted in April (CD April 25 Special Bulletin p1). Verizon Wireless is asking the Commission to modify its power-limit rules for the 700 MHz band to impose a single set of rules on the upper and lower bands, it said in a petition for reconsideration and clarification. Verizon Wireless has met in recent weeks with FCC staff on the issue, according to ex partes filed. A rewrite would “ensure that both bands are equally able to accommodate a variety of technologies, including emerging broadband technologies that spread power over a large spectral bandwidth,” Verizon Wireless said.
Public safety needs must get prime consideration when the FCC writes rules for the 700 MHz auction, Senate Commerce Committee members said at a hearing Thurs. Many members passionately urged the FCC to require commercial interests to build networks and prohibit them from making quick profits through resales. Members also agreed that interoperability is an important public safety need, but the panel was divided on whether the spectrum auction could provide the solution.
Sprint Nextel easily will exceed 2.5 GHz buildout requirements set by the FCC as a condition of the companies’ 2005 merger, Sprint CTO Barry West said Thurs. WiMAX’s growing popularity will make devices that send and receive data wirelessly as ubiquitous as today’s cellphones, West told us. “The FCC wanted something they could put in [the merger order] that helped justify the merger… to the public at large. This was an easy give for us,” West said: “We don’t have to build out until 2009 and we don’t have to build out anything near the footprint that we're planning to build.”
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.
FCC commissioners will seek public comment before they decide whether to revise special access pricing rules, FCC Chmn. Martin told House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D- Mass.) in a June 11 letter released Wed, by the House. Markey in May requested the Commission’s views on revisiting special access rules given their possible impact on wireless carriers competing for spectrum in the coming 700 MHz auction. Markey voiced concern that special access prices were too high and the market too concentrated to encourage competition.
Wireless companies must offer devices that operate in a wide variety of bands, NextWave Wireless CEO Allen Salmasi told a Wireless Communications Assn. lunch Wed. “The reason that spectrum has become such a big issue is that up until now the mindset has always been if you're going to roll out the GSM network you've got to have nationwide spectrum at 900 MHz… if you're going to do 3G you've got to go buy 2.1 GHz spectrum,” he said. “What that translates into is what we saw in the 3G auctions in Europe. People put up tens of billions of dollars to buy their spectrum and in many cases they have to write off those investments because the business case just doesn’t support that kind of investment.”
Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) lauded an FCC plan for a public safety network in the E block of the upper 700 MHz spectrum, in a Tues. letter to FCC Chmn. Martin. A veteran safety advocate who promoted legislation to let public safety manage part of the auctioned spectrum, McCain said the FCC proposal holds the key to solving the nation’s interoperability problems. Public safety clearly needs more spectrum, McCain said, citing data pegging the need at 97.5 MHz of additional spectrum for full interoperability. The Commission proposal deserves “serious consideration,” McCain said, suggesting that auction participants agree to accommodate public safety’s specifications before the auction. A network that includes a public safety component would be an “excellent use of the public spectrum and an outstanding example of a public-private partnership,” McCain said. He also advised the Commission to consider a mix of license sizes when devising its rulemaking to “further development of wireless broadband.” Consumers would benefit from policies encouraging competition, McCain said: “Market-driven spectrum policies, and not encumbering rules, would ensure that spectrum does not lay fallow due to extensive litigation, or for other reasons.”
Google’s last-minute proposal (CD May 23 p1) for changes to the 700 MHz service rules were soundly rejected by commenters. Google asked the agency to clarify that in seeking to recoup their outlays, licensees could use auctions similar to those Google uses to sell search advertising. Google also asked the FCC to reserve the E-block in the lower 700 MHz band for 2-way interactive applications connected to the public Internet.
Frontline Wireless used the same argument -- market forces -- as its opponents in the reply comment round of the 700 MHz band auction and service rules. Frontline said requiring wholesale arrangements is one of the market incentives that will benefit public safety.