The new national public safety network company Frontline Wireless won’t need legislation to work, instantly differentiating its 700 MHz spectrum plan from Cyren Call’s, said former FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt, part of Frontline’s leadership. The group, a partnership of Hundt, former NTIA Dir. and spectrum player Janice Obuchowski, and Vanguard Cellular founder and former CTIA Chmn. Haynes Griffin, filed a proposal at the Commission Mon. asking it to license 2 small bands in 700 MHz for dual-use by commercial and public-safety groups. The spectrum would still be auctioned and sold to the highest bidder, Hundt said, reconciling both existing law penned by Rep. Barton when he was House Commerce Committee chmn. and the need for more public safety spectrum. Frontline didn’t disclose how much investment it has drawn or how much it projected bidding for the spectrum.
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.
Cyren Call CEO Morgan O'Brien’s spectrum proposal largely could solve America’s broadband access problems and deliver a fully interoperable safety network, he said. On a Hill panel at the New America Foundation, O'Brien said Fri. he'd have more details of the proposal Mon. in a filing with the FCC. It will answer questions about how the company can succeed financially serving public and private 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.
Small and independent businesses could qualify to lease digital broadcast spectrum and start operations similar to stations under a system like the one used to determine designated entities in wireless or broadcast auctions, FCC Chmn. Martin said, referring to his idea to mandate cable carriage for such arrangements (CD Feb 15 p7). “The Commission has certain rules about who would qualify as a small business” in those situations, Martin said. Martin opened the Commission’s media ownership hearing in Harrisburg, Pa. by mentioning the idea. Broadcasters are finding themselves with surplus spectrum as they switch to digital broadcast technology, he said: “Small and independently owned businesses can take advantage of this to operate their own stations” with the same rights and obligations as other broadcasters. Such rights would include compulsory cable carriage and obligations would include children’s and public interest programming.
NARUC panelists discussing safety agencies’ interoperable wireless broadband service needs disputed whether those needs are best met through the existing industry or new efforts. John Muletta, CEO of M2Z Networks, and Morgan O'Brien, CEO of Cyren Call, both said public safety agencies will need much more spectrum for interoperable wireless broadband service than FCC plans, and explained their respective proposals to the FCC for using additional radio spectrum they want for nationwide public safety broadband service. Both drew strong criticism from other panelists. Christopher Guttman-McCabe, CITA regulatory vp, said Cyren Call and M2Z effectively would be creating brand-new wireless carriers supported by a mix of govt. and private sources. “These approaches are unnecessary and represent regression to wireless spectrum allocation policies that we wisely discarded in favor of auctions.” He said rebanding plans for the 700 MHz band have set aside 24 MHz for safety broadband use, a volume he compared to that needed for wireless voice service to 200 million-plus subscribers. Neither M2Z nor Cyren has shown why the planned allocation is inadequate, or why wireless market forces won’t meet safety agencies’ interoperable broadband needs, he said. Jill Canfield, state regulatory counsel for the National Telecom Cooperative Assn., said the nationwide broadband services proposed by M2Z or Cyren won’t reach deeply rural areas. “National service rarely includes truly rural areas. National providers always start out in major urban markets with rural areas coming in last,” she said. Existing rural telecom providers are the best path for meeting rural public safety agencies’ broadband needs, she said: “They are local companies run by people who live in the areas they serve.” Jeffrey Eisenach, chmn. of Criterion Economics, agreed that the 24 MHz being set aside for public safety broadband “is plenty. There’s no need to assign more.” He said Cyren Call’s broadband plan is particularly risky because it would lock up spectrum in a company subsidized and run by govt. agencies. “If Cyren Call’s plan is truly viable, let them find private capital and bid for additional spectrum in the auction,” he said.
FCC bureau chiefs at NARUC outlined their key telecom issues for 2007. Don Stockdale, FCC Wireline Bureau deputy chief, said his bureau will focus on 5 major issues for 2007 -- protecting customer proprietary network information (CPNI), reform of universal service fund distribution through reverse auctions or other means, reform of universal service fund contributions through number-based formulas or other means, VoIP number portability and intercarrier compensation reform. Wireless Bureau Chief Fred Campbell said his big issues for 2007 include an upcoming spectrum auction of 60 MHz in the 700 MHz band, addressing concerns of rural consumers and alarm companies in the transition from analog to digital cellular and determining whether to deem early termination fees rates, rendering them exempt from state regulation, or part of the “other terms and conditions” states can regulate. Catherine Seidel, chief of the Consumer & Intergovernmental Affairs Bureau, said her bureau’s top 2007 priorities are reform of relay service compensation to accommodate video, IP relay and other new technologies, ensuring E-911 access for IP and video relay, promoting Lifeline, addressing local consumer protection regulations over wireless services and managing consumer issues arising from the transition from analog TV to digital TV by Feb. 2009. In fiscal 2005, 40 million numbers were added to the national no-call telemarketing registry, which now includes 138 million phone numbers, she said. Kris Monteith, Enforcement Bureau chief, said a priority this year is stamping out “pretexting” and other frauds data brokers use to obtain customer call records, and ensuring telecom carriers adequately protect subscriber confidentiality. She said the FCC has subpoenaed online data brokers that fraudulently got phone records, and penalized brokers ignoring subpoenas. She said the FCC has asked a number of carriers how they live up to their duty to protect sensitive customer data. Ken Moran, acting chief of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, said a major issue this year will be improving emergency communications between responders and with the public. He noted progress in the 800 MHz rebanding proceeding but noted that satisfying carrier and public safety agency requests to alter the reconfiguration process for the channels earmarked for the National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee will extend the transition process past the original June 2008 target date. Other important issues for 2007, he said, will be developing a public emergency warning system for cellphones, working with states on keeping E-911 operational during disasters and becoming a central clearinghouse for communications information relevant to first responders, 911 centers and hospitals.
M2Z’s proposal to offer a 10 MHz national broadband network in the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum band is progressing as planned, and the future of the proposal now in the FCC’s hands, CEO John Muleta said Fri. “The status update is that the FCC accepted the application Jan. 31,” said Muleta, who spoke to a Progress & Freedom Foundation seminar on the proposal. “We think it’s a solid application and think it’s in the public interest and makes the best use of the spectrum. But I'm going to decline to make any predictions.”
Verizon Wireless doesn’t have a proposal to offer a purported 12 MHz alternative to Cyren Call’s proposed 30 MHz public safety broadband network, Verizon Exec. Vp Public Affairs Tom Tauke said Mon. Tauke’s remarks confirm that while Verizon has floated a proposal, it was never fully developed into a working plan.
The Universal Service Fund is too bloated to help expand broadband deployment, FCC Comr. McDowell told an NTCA conference in Orlando. “The Fund simply cannot afford to subsidize broadband connectivity under its current structure,” McDowell said: “The bitter truth is that we can’t keep asking more and more folks to prop up a failing system. Fundamental reform is necessary.” The FCC last summer voted to expand the pool of USF contributors, but “the contribution factor that was supposed to have declined as a result of the FCC’s action is back on the rise again,” he said: “Like a fever that initially responds to treatment only to rage again the next day, the factor initially declined from about 11 percent to 9 percent once we broadened the base. But for the first quarter of 2007 it has risen again to 9.7 percent -- and early indications are that the second quarter figure could spike to over 11 percent. If bold action is not taken soon, this fever will threaten the patient’s life.” The contribution factor is the percentage of eligible revenue that telecom companies must contribute to the USF, and its rise usually reflects a rise in USF disbursements. Wireless spectrum is one hope for broadband deployment in rural areas served by NTCA members, said McDowell: “I hope that you'll be active participants in the 700 MHz auction. The Commission is doing its part to help you move away from reliance on the Universal Service Fund by opening new windows of opportunity for the construction of new delivery platforms with new technologies and robust competition.”
If Congress accedes to Cyren Call demands, providing 30 MHz of spectrum for public safety broadband, it could delay a 700 MHz auction by years, if not kill it outright, members of the High Tech DTV Coalition said Tues. The group voiced its concern in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee leaders, as well as a study making an economic case against the Cyren Call proposal.