THE MOBILE-PHONE INDUSTRY, forced to fight an escalating two-front war against public-safety groups and hundreds of thousands of Internet foot soldiers, suddenly finds itself on the defensive as federal telecom regulators move closer to issuing rules for 700 MHz spectrum set to be auctioned later this year.
The Federal Communications Commission last week was swamped with tens of thousands of comments containing a quarter-of-a-million signatures from citizens advocating open access in the 700 MHz band along the lines proposed by Frontline Wireless L.L.C. The Senate Commerce Committee is set to jump into the fray at a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Frontline envisions a state-of-the-art national wireless broadband network that would offer high-speed Internet service to consumers and give first responders the kind of coast-to-coast operational capabilities that they lack but cannot afford. The plan would combine 10 megahertz of commercial spectrum with 12 megahertz of public-safety spectrum for shared use, though Frontline and the public-safety community have a fundamental disagreement over network control. Frontline plans to bid on the 10-megahertz E block.
More coming around
Even Cyren Call Communications Corp., the startup that sparked the 700 MHz debate by seeking dedicated spectrum for a national public-safety broadband network using a public-private approach, appears to be bracing for the possibility that Frontline’s plan-at least in some form-might well win government approval. In the final round of public comments, Cyren Call recommended the FCC ensure that the auction winner of a Frontline-like wireless license has a viable financial plan before issuing a permit to construct a network.
Cyren Call and its heavyweight public-safety backers have been cool to the Frontline open-access component, fearing it could dissuade mobile-phone carriers with national wireless infrastructures from bidding on a 10-megahertz commercial-public safety license and thereby heighten the risk of partnering with an unproven startup. Public safety also worries a national wireless network with open access could compromise high reliability standards of first-responder communications.
While Silicon Valley-backed Frontline has attracted a surplus of support from Internet firms, consumer groups and highly populated activist groups, it lacks the endorsement of public safety and faces opposition from the $120 billion cellular industry.
But with Cyren Call’s original proposal effectively dead, public safety may have to settle for a Frontline plan that has become a lightning rod not only for controversy but also for a grand groundswell of support that the FCC can hardly ignore.
Indeed, the 700 MHz debate has become as much about the future of the Internet as the future of public-safety communications. With both continuing to face serious challenges, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appears hard pressed to seek solutions in the 700 MHz band, or else possibly be left with a legacy of having come up short on two national priorities.
The FCC also must decide other critical issues such as the mix of license sizes, buildout requirements and auction format. And though public safety desperately wants a national wireless broadband pipe, it believes wideband public-safety channels are still needed as a local option in the 700 MHz band.
