Net neutrality advocates are pressing the FCC to adopt “openness” principles in rules for the 700 MHz auction, in addition to urging that the agency require auction winners to adopt net neutrality principles. Net neutrality supporters sent the FCC nearly 250,000 letters on open access Mon., following up previous filings urging buildout requirements and limits on incumbents’ participation in the auction. The campaign urges the FCC to require all licensees to carry Internet and voice traffic without degradation and allow consumers to use any equipment that doesn’t cause interference.
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.
The SavetheInternet.com Coalition said a quarter of a million people sent comments to the FCC, and more than 5,000 people joined a Facebook group urging the Commission to keep incumbent cable operators and telcos from gobbling up all of the 700 MHz spectrum at the upcoming auction, it said Mon. The reply comment deadline was Mon. “It would be a big mistake to hand over the airwaves to corporate gatekeepers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast,” said Timothy Karr, Free Press campaign dir. Free Press is coordinating the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. As part of the campaign, Working Assets Wireless has offered to buy out the cellphone contracts “of those fed up with the services of AT&T and Verizon,” said Working Assets Wireless Pres. Michael Kieschnick. Another coalition member, MoveOn.org hailed a letter signed by 40 technology advocates urging the agency to require open access on spectrum acquired in the 700 MHz band. “The FCC has a choice: Use the public airwaves for the public good, or turn them over to companies that will stifle competition and innovation. We, the undersigned, urge you to allow wireless Internet to achieve its full potential,” reads the letter.
Potential bidders and public interest groups urged the FCC Fri. to keep bidders’ identities anonymous in the upcoming 700 MHz auction. By maintaining anonymity, bidders wouldn’t be able to signal or use blocking techniques to exclude new entrants from participating in the auction, panelists at a New America Foundation lunch said. The process would help yield a better return to the public for auction of the public licenses.
The FCC resolved a number of issues on 800 MHz rebanding in a cleanup order handed down Wed., but declined to address the main remaining issue - a Sprint request to extend the 18-month rebanding benchmark. The order instead addresses rebanding of enhanced specialized mobile radio (ESMR) licensees, assorted international issues and matters raised in pending petitions for reconsideration or clarification.
Frontline’s plan was generally panned in reams of comments filed on the proposed rules for the 700 MHz band. The plan “requires substantial revision,” said the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC). It’s not a “good idea to adopt service rules which essentially replicate one carrier’s business plan,” especially one “which has not worked in the past,” said U.S. Cellular.
PHILADELPHIA -- Three judges of the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia seemed to open the door to nullifying revised FCC rules on unjust enrichment. They heard arguments in a case pitting designated entities (DEs) led by Council Tree against the FCC. But the judges also seemed reluctant to overturn 2006’s advanced wireless services auction.
With tonight (Wed.) the deadline for comments for the 700 MHz band, many got a jump by filing in the docket, commenting on proposals at a spectrum forum and previewing their comments. Google led the parade with a filing Mon. asking the FCC to endorse the concept of a real-time dynamic auction. The Small Business Administration (SBA) submitted a letter asking the Commission to return to the “original” designated entity (DE) rules. Cyren Call, Access Spectrum, Frontline and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council had delegates on a 700 MHz panel at the Spectrum Management 2007 conference sponsored by the National Spectrum Managers Assn. Frontline held a news conference on a study by 2 academics from Stanford calling for banning incumbents from the E-block.
A $27.5 billion TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners buy of Alltel likely will be embraced by the Justice Dept. and FCC, especially since it creates a strong independent carrier positioned to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, lawyers and analysts said Mon. The acquisition is the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) in the U.S. telecom industry. The companies hope to finalize the deal by Q1 2008.
The post-Telecom Act generation of communications attorneys is populous and prosperous, drawn to the industry by a new legislative environment and subsequent telecom and tech booms, according to lawyers we spoke with. For this collective analysis, Communications Daily decided to profile young attorneys who were mentioned as especially promising by multiple sources -- often off the record -- and the system in which they operate. Many belong to the FCBA Young Lawyers Committee (YLC), open to communications lawyers under 35 or with fewer than 7 years in practice; those were roughly the criteria -- with minor exceptions -- for this article.
The Southern Governors Assn. (SGA) endorsed a public- private partnership to build a nationwide interoperable public safety network, in a recently passed resolution. Collaboration between public safety and the wireless industry “will allow the public safety community to harness the power of the commercial markets, software, high-speed digital networks and advances in radio technology,” an SGA resolution said. The Assn.’s leadership also sent a letter May 15 to DHS Secy. Michael Chertoff, FCC Chmn. Martin and NTIA Dir. John Kneuer.