WASHINGTON-The chairmen of the Senate communications subcommittee and the Federal Communications Commission are slated to begin briefing Senate staffers about spectrum policy and how it should not be used to make up revenues, said Mike Rawson, telecommunications aide to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee.
“The idea that spectrum is a big pot of gold to be exploited is an idea that Sen. Burns is philosophically and fundamentally at odds with. … Burns is going to be embarking on a campaign and the initial effort will be focused on education. He will be hosting a series of briefings with [FCC Chairman Michael K.] Powell designed initially at staff leading into a series of hearings later on in the year looking at a comprehensive spectrum reform bill … looking at spectrum in a broad-based way to make sure we are utilizing … the potential of spectrum,” said Rawson.
Rawson made his comments at a press breakfast at the annual conference of the National Telephone Cooperative Association, an organization of rural wireline operators, most of which also have wireless holdings. He said Burns believes there needs to be a comprehensive spectrum policy developed that does not allow spectrum resources to be used to make up budget shortfalls.
Powell said later that there was nothing special about the briefings. Indeed, he did not even seem aware of them when asked about them by RCR Wireless News.
“I don’t think it is anything super special. … It is not that remarkable,” said Powell.
Burns also wants to create a process where everyone can be assured that federal spectrum users are efficiently using spectrum. The tug-of-war between commercial and federal spectrum users has been a hot topic as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration studies whether the Department of Defense can share or move from spectrum in the 1.7 GHz band so that commercial companies can use the band for third-generation services. The 1.7 GHz band was one of three bands designated by the World Radiocommunication Conference for 3G.
Spectrum policy was the main topic when Powell recently met with Burns, Rawson said, noting that Powell also made a push for hiring more engineers and upgrading the FCC’s spectrum lab.
“The spectrum lab at the FCC is really antiquated and the level of hiring capability for these young engineers [is low]. It is a real brain-drain situation where the talented engineers are being picked off,” said Rawson, relating what Powell told Burns.
NTCA is pushing for a spectrum set-aside of spectrum for rural companies. The original personal communications services C-block was set aside for small companies, including rural telecommunications carriers, but as Earl Owens, chief executive officer of Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative, noted, most of the licenses in the recent re-auction went to either big players or small-company affiliates of the big players.
Another NTCA priority is universal service.
Reforming the rural universal-service system is on the FCC’s agenda for this year. It is currently accepting comments on a proposal submitted last year by its Rural Task Force. NTCA staff denounced a key component of that plan to wireless carriers-portability of funds.
“We have a real problem with portability. … A lot of carriers that have tried for eligible telecommunications carrier status have not been able to get that designated in part because of the things that were put into the [Telecommunications Act of 1996] by pros like Sen. Burns that require that they be willing to come in and serve the entire area and not just cherry-pick one or two businesses in an area,” said Shirley Bloomfield, NTCA vice president of government affairs and association services. Bloomfield said government should recognize that “competition in some of these areas is not going to make sense.”
Portability is an issue for wireless carriers, such as Western Wireless Corp., that wish to offer competitive service in rural America. These companies claim it is not economically possible to offer this service without the subsidies, but they are constantly fighting against rural incumbent telephone companies that rely on the subsidies as a revenue stream.
Both Burns and Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) are sponsoring bills that would repeal the caps on the high-cost universal-service fund.
“We estimate that small, independent telecommunications carriers will lose out on $198 million this year if the caps are not removed,” said Michael E. Brunner, NTCA chief executive officer.
NTCA also believes its members have lost out on $351 million in universal-service subsidies since the caps were imposed in 1994.
