WASHINGTON-With prospects uncertain for securing third-generation mobile-phone spectrum at the World Radiocommunication Conference next month in Turkey and apparent concerns about the Clinton administration’s commitment on that score, U.S. wireless firms have turned to Congress for support.
A group calling itself the Wireless Spectrum Coalition has invited congressional staffers to a luncheon briefing Tuesday on WRC-2000 3G spectrum issues. WRC-2000 will be held May 8 to June 2 under the auspices of the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union.
“We have reached a critical juncture in the evolution of wireless technology with wireless Internet and other data applications about to be introduced. These new services represent an exciting innovation, but they also require additional, globally available spectrum,” stated the Wireless Spectrum Coalition in a sample invitation to Hill staffers obtained by RCR.
Wireless industry executives were expected to highlight the 3G spectrum issue at a House science subcommittee hearing last Thursday.
The U.S. government-after much prodding from mobile-phone carriers and manufacturers-reluctantly agreed in February to seek additional 3G frequencies in the 698 MHz to 960 MHz, 1710 MHz to 1885 MHz and 2500 MHz to 2690 MHz bands.
But the administration’s shift is a tenuous one, as it is conditioned on the outcome of vaguely defined spectrum sharing/interference studies.
One of the reasons the Clinton administration has been reluctant to identify the 1700 MHz and the 2500 MHz bands for 3G services is because those bands are occupied by government and private-sector fixed broadband wireless users, respectively.
Ambassador Gail Schoettler, head of the U.S. delegation to WRC-2000, was unavailable for comment.
Why the mobile-phone industry is engaging Congress three weeks before WRC-2000 is unclear. Carriers and manufacturers, according to a source familiar with the industry’s thinking, said some in the industry do not fully trust the administration to aggressively press the 3G spectrum issue at WRC.
If such an undercurrent of distrust exists among mobile-phone firms, tomorrow’s Hill briefing on 3G global spectrum harmonization may be designed to get lawmakers to browbeat the White House on the issue.
That the United States might be inclined to cut a deal at WRC would not be surprising, given that the administration’s 3G spectrum plan does not have strong support in any region of the world. The unsettled situation has led to speculation about whether the United States will have unified industry backing when WRC-2000 opens next month in Istanbul.
“With our global competitors seeking to capture this exploding wireless data sector, decisions made at the WRC and at the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] will determine the U.S. market position for decades to come,” stated the wireless industry group.
The coalition is comprised of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., BellSouth Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association, L.M. Ericsson, Lucent Technologies Inc., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., Nortel Networks, Omnipoint Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Sprint Corp. and Verizon Wireless (Bell Atlantic Corp.-Vodafone AirTouch plc-PrimeCo Personal Communications L.P.).
Because of budget constraints, the FCC only plans to send a limited number of technical experts to WRC-2000.
