Spectrum auctions and continued deregulation are key priorities for the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) next year, the regulator said Tues. in its 2006-2007 annual plan. With its strategic review of the communications sector out of the way, Ofcom said a major challenge now will be to ensure its decisions actually deliver for competition, quality and the consumer. It listed 9 priorities for the coming year, including: (1) Releasing and liberalizing spectrum, facilitating spectrum trading and raising awareness of the opportunities offered by a more market-led approach to spectrum management. (2) Continuing to explore areas in which unnecessary regulation can be lifted. (3) Ensuring that British Telecom complies with its agreement to give rivals equivalent access to its network in order to spur competition. (4) Considering whether to regulate core and access next-generation networks. (5) Continuing work on public service broadcasting issues. (6) Examining potential benefits to citizens and consumers of new methods of content delivery, the implications for regulation and how to ensure children are protected. Ofcom said it will also continue to protect consumers and citizens by, among other things, helping them transition to DTV, and to promote access to broadband. The regulator also wants to influence regulatory policy on the international scale during the EU review of its e-communications regulatory framework, debate over the draft directive on TV Without Frontiers, and the most important set of spectrum negotiations in over 40 years.
Asked what they would do to increase broadband deployment, a panel of attorneys Tues. offered a panoply of ideas, ranging from tax incentives to better consumer education to more reliance on powerline communications. Some panelists at a symposium sponsored by Catholic U.’s law school Tues. also recommended more dependence on the marketplace and less on regulation, although others said regulators better be sure that marketplace remains open to competition.
Chmn. Martin wants a full FCC vote on a contentious public notice that would require blind bids in an advanced wireless services (AWS) auction this June, sources said Thurs. The Wireless Bureau had been expected to issue the notice. Now the FCC is expected to vote at its April 12 meeting. In another wireless sector matter, sources said Martin is recirculating a BRS/EBS order. An earlier version was withdrawn.
T-Mobile took its case against opaque bidding in a coming advanced wireless services auction straight to FCC Chief Economist Leslie Marx, widely viewed as a leading proponent of blind bidding. T-Mobile officials, accompanied by U. of Md. economics Prof. Peter Cramton, met Fri. with Marx, according to an ex parte letter. T-Mobile said the FCC should examine the “eligibility ratio,” a measure of supply of spectrum vs. demand, based on upfront bids 3-4 weeks before the auction. If the ratio shows demand is high, it should reveal bidders’ identities during the auction. T-Mobile said, based on the test it suggests, some past spectrum auctions have been competitive while others haven’t. “Although T-Mobile and Prof. Cramton continue to believe that full transparency is the best policy, in the alternative, the attendees discussed establishing a competitive threshold for transparency,” said T-Mobile. “As the auction becomes more competitive, there is a point where full transparency is clearly the best policy, and the above proposals provide an objective, straightforward means of assessing the competitiveness of the upcoming AWS auction so that the FCC can make a reasoned decision on whether to use transparent or blind bidding procedures.”
An omnibus telecom bill the Senate Commerce Committee is drafting will include a “white space” provision to encourage broadband deployment, Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said Tues. “Tweaking” would bridge differences between his bill (S-2332), which would enable TV white spaces to be used by unlicensed devices, and another (S-2327) introduced by Sen. Allen (R-Va.), he said. Stevens expects to move to a markup of the overall bill now that 16 of 17 planned telecom hearings have been completed, he said.
Despite rosy industry predictions and a strong nudge from the European Commission, widespread mobile TV uptake in Europe is far from certain, an analyst said Fri. The technology is “heavily overhyped by the vendor community,” said Strategy Analytics’ Nitesh Patel. Carriers not convinced of the opportunity are forced by competitive threats inside and outside the industry to think seriously about choosing a strategy to pursue the technology, he told us.
T-Mobile disputed Justice Dept. arguments for letting the FCC allow blind bidding in a June advanced wireless services auction to block bid signaling seen in past auctions. DoJ’s logic is out of date, T-Mobile said. “The Dept.’s analysis is flawed, and its reliance on the results of Auction No. 11 to support non-transparent bidding in Auction No. 66 is completely misplaced,” T-Mobile said. In a March 3 filing DoJ cited 1996-97 misconduct in Auction 11. Auction 11, long a subject of debate, was among those in which Mario Gabelli allegedly exploited rules encouraging small investors to buy licenses. “Mercury PCS used the last few digits of its bids to identify a specific BTA and thereby to signal another bidder, High Plains Wireless, that unless High Plains ceased bidding on a block of spectrum in the identified BTA, Mercury PCS would bid up the price for spectrum in another BTA that High Plains sought to buy,” DoJ said. DoJ admitted the FCC fined Mercury and changed its auction procedures. DoJ said it has identified at least one other example of bidders bending rules, in auction 58 for PCS licenses in Roanoke, Va. The Auction 11 example is irrelevant, T-Mobile said, calling the Roanoke case “one isolated example” after Auction 11. “If the Dept. has harbored concerns about the Commission’s transparent bidding practices, it has had ample opportunity to voice them before, during or after any of the fifty wireless auctions that have been conducted since Auction No. 11,” T-Mobile said.
The Dept. of Justice will bring civil fraud charges against Mario Gabelli, alleging he sought to deceive the FCC in spectrum auctions, it said. Gabelli’s alleged abuse of designated entity credits led the FCC to tighten rules.
VoIP carriers would benefit from passage of pending telecom legislation, because even E-911 compliant companies face too many obstacles to getting linked with public safety access points (PSAPs), said Dana Lichtenberg, telecom aide to Rep. Gordon (D-Tenn.). This is in part because too many in Congress think the FCC’s VoIP E-911 order “is all that was needed,” she said. Lichtenberg -- speaking at an enterprise VoIP conference held Wed. by the Information Technology Assn. of America (ITAA) -- said Gordon wants more resources for PSAPs, since many of the failures to meet the recent deadline were theirs. She said at least some E-911 language, alongside cable franchising issues, will be in a “stripped down” version of coming House telecom legislation. She held out hope the bill would remain bipartisan.
Identities of high bidders in June’s advanced wireless services (AWS) auction would be secret until the sale ends, under rules apparently headed for FCC approval. Sources said despite wireless carriers’ opposition, the Wireless Bureau seems inclined for the first time to embrace nondisclosure provisions. The proposal got backing this week from the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.