THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION appears to have gained sufficient political cover to move forward with plans to auction a national 700 MHz license designed to serve unmet public-safety and consumer broadband needs, but the agency must still resolve a slew of critical issues before it issues final bidding and service rules next month.
Key Senate lawmakers voiced support for what would be an unprecedented-albeit unproven-hybrid licensing approach to dramatically upgrade public-safety communications capabilities otherwise lacking in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina and to inject serious competition-via wireless technology-into a broadband market dominated by Bell telephone and cable TV giants.
Indeed, last week may well have been a key turning point for the most controversial piece of a 700 MHz rulemaking with many complex moving parts that the FCC had hoped to come to closure on this month. That no longer seems realistic.
The 700 MHz public-private approach under consideration is based on a proposal from Frontline Wireless L.L.C., a startup whose heavyweight Silicon Valley funding is complemented with aggressive advocacy of high-profile political insiders comprising the firm’s management team. Under the plan, 10 megahertz of the auction-bound 60 megahertz of spectrum
would be set aside for a hybrid license whose operator would have access to half of public safety’s 24 megahertz in the same 700 MHz band. First responders in turn would have access to commercial spectrum on a priority basis during major emergencies.
“Without question, the concept of a partnership between public safety and a commercial operator-as some have suggested-would represent a paradigm shift in the way traditional public-safety communications have been managed and operated,” stated Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) at last week’s hearing. “It raises many difficult questions that must be carefully considered and answered. But the difficulty of the task should not alter the responsibility of our regulators to meet the needs of first responders and to facilitate the development and use of cutting-edge communications technologies that will be essential to protecting the safety of current and future generations.”
July date set
A final ruling on the 700 MHz debate has been pushed back to July, with the agency unlikely to tolerate any further delay due to a statutory deadline to conduct the auction by January 2008, and the need to give prospective bidders time to prepare applications as well as line up financing.
“In my opinion,” stated Inouye, “we are well past the question of whether we should help first responders build and operate a nationwide, interoperable broadband network. Instead, it is time that we focus on what we must do to accomplish this goal as quickly as possible.”
With usable spectrum growing increasingly scarce and the 700 MHz band having excellent propagation characteristics, the auction could generate more than $15 billion for the U.S. Treasury.
Inouye conceded the enormous anticipated receipts from the 700 MHz cannot be ignored, but added that “we should not let that fact seduce us into forgetting the importance of designing service rules that also meet other critical policy goals.”
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a Commerce Committee member, agreed. “The 700 MHz auction has profound implications beyond revenue.”
In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Kerry said the 700 MHz auction has the potential to vastly improve the state of first-responder communications and broadband competition.
Kerry also advocated for strong buildout requirements proposed by the FCC. “This spectrum should not sit dormant in the hands of winning bidders. . We cannot allow this spectrum to be hoarded by large companies who don’t intend to use it, which stifles innovation and the growth of competitive networks. It is imperative that care is taken to avoid warehousing of this spectrum,” the Massachusetts lawmaker said.
Carriers warn plan could backfire
The cellphone industry, which opposes a Frontline proposal that includes a controversial open-access component otherwise popular with consumer and pro-net neutrality groups, also opposes a geographic-based construction mandate. National cellphone trade group CTIA and a large number of parties warned that the agency’s plan could backfire.
“We understand the commission’s desire to make sure that the spectrum is utilized, but are deeply concerned about the potential negative impact of a geographic buildout requirement,” said Christopher Guttman-McCabe, VP for regulatory affairs at CTIA. “The 55 small, medium and large companies, representing a diverse range of service providers and potential service providers, that have signed this letter agree with CTIA that a geographic requirement could actually have a negative impact on the delivery of advanced services to consumers, forcing licensees to choose last-generation technology or to return spectrum in areas where they would have provided service based on commission geographic deadlines. We hope the commission will consider alternative buildout requirements.”
Rural cellular operators, for their part, support geographic-based buildout rules.
Tech star James Barksdale, a Frontline partner, was peppered with questions at last Thursday’s hearing from a skeptical Ted Stevens, the influential Republican senator from Alaska who serves a vice chairman of the committee.
But Barksdale held his own, and underscored that Frontline was willing to significantly defer to public safety on major network and license matters. Differences between Frontline and first responders over who calls the shots in a public-private license arrangement have yet to be bridged. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) recommended to the FCC’s Martin that prospective bidders agree to first responder’s technical and operational requirements prior to the auction itself.
Public safety comments
It is clear public safety, lacking funds for a nationwide broadband network, regards the Frontline plan as a path forward.
“The only viable option to fund a national public-safety broadband network is to form a public-private partnership whereby spectrum resources can be shared among commercial and public-safety users, but on a network that meets the requirements of first-responder agencies and retains public-safety control over public-safety spectrum,” stated Wanda McCarley in congressional testimony on behalf of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council.
The public-safety community has not embraced the Frontline plan to the extent it backed Cyren Call Communications Corp., whose now-defunct plan was the catalyst for current debate at the FCC and on Capitol Hill.
Having earned public-safety’s trust and support, Cyren Call could still prove influential in a consulting role to a nonprofit public-safety spectrum trust that negotiates with 700 MHz national commercial-public safety license sought by Frontline.
Meantime, Frontline said former Republican FCC chairman Mark Fowler joined its team, which also includes Reed Hundt, a Democratic FCC chief from the Clinton administration.
