Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Like many of the most popular scriptural sayings, “and the lion shall lay down with the lamb” never actually appears in Scripture. What Isaiah (65:25) actually said, in describing a vision of paradise, was: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.” With all due respect to Isaiah, I like the “lion – lamb” as an image for the impossibly perfect future.
Which brings me to the topic of this column. If as a nation we are to solve our public-safety communications crisis, we must focus on a vision of a divine future where, in fact, the lions and the lambs of the wireless industry achieve a perfect harmony.
When Congress and the Federal Communications Commission ordered television broadcasters to vacate coveted 700 MHz spectrum, the wireless world turned a hungry eye. As part of that process, Cyren Call joined others in a plea that public-safety communications be placed at the forefront of next generation broadband by receiving a significant swath of spectrum. And so it came to pass, albeit after years of debate.
So now it’s January 2009 and we’re at a turning point in our national history, what are the facts on the ground for this public safety objective?
Our nation is in the midst of an economic crisis of a magnitude unseen since the Great Depression. The financial markets have receded and withdrawn access to capital, making private investment in telecommunications infrastructure incredibly difficult. Most states are facing budget shortfalls and one estimate shows a combined state deficit in excess of $350 billion over the next few years.
But there are incredible opportunities as well. The priorities of President Barack Obama are encouraging. The President himself has spoken on the need for extending broadband capabilities to rural and underserved areas of the country. And his policy position on modernizing public-safety communications is an encouraging sign.
Our nation is rushing toward the commercialization of fourth generation wireless technology at a pace much faster than anticipated (thank you, iPhone). Last year, the two largest lions among the wireless operators, Verizon and AT&T, cumulatively spent in excess of $15 billion, more than 80% of the total proceeds collected, in an FCC auction for spectrum licenses at 700 MHz (appropriately, a lion’s share of the spectrum).
Against this backdrop, any day we’ll have a new FCC chairman which virtually assures a fresh look at solving the public-safety crisis.
As that fresh look commences, what will he see? Remarkably, despite the controversy, there is significant consensus on what needs to be done. Among the largest players, there is unanimity for creating a nationwide solution to deliver next-generation, interoperable communications for public safety and universal agreement that the involvement of the private sector, through a public-private partnership, is the correct approach to solve the problem. In fact, following spirited debate, no one has uncovered a credible alternative to the public-private partnership advocated by the FCC.
How do we bridge the remaining gaps to bring to fruition a wireless broadband network in a timely manner that meets public safety’s needs?
Where the task is so huge and the necessary resources are so scarce, the answer could lie in a rare burst of harmony. We now know that AT&T and Verizon each will be building 700 MHz facilities nationally and thus more efficiently than any other player could build major market segments of a public, private broadband network as contemplated by the FCC’s Third Further Notice. To achieve a proper balance between that efficiency in major markets and the risk of stifling competition, the ideal scenario would have the other nationwide wireless operators who have no significant spectrum position at 700 MHz and the regional operators fill in and supplement the major metro coverage provided by Verizon and/or AT&T. And a third ring of coverage could be attractive to rural operators and entrepreneurs, assuming the right kind of leadership from the larger operators.
For too long we have been conditioned to believe that creating a nationwide wireless network for public safety must be a zero-sum game – in order for someone to win, someone must lose. The right regulations, combined with the right economics and just the right amount of stimulus, however, could provide the blueprint for a successful network in which all benefit.
Although it may seem difficult today, we must find a way for the lions and lambs of the commercial wireless industry to share the opportunity and responsibility for creating a nationwide wireless broadband network for public safety.
If that were to happen, the benefits to the nation would be of biblical proportions.
Morgan O’Brien is chairman of Cyren Call Communications Corp., an advisor to the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST). Prior to Cyren Call, he co-founded Nextel Communications Inc. in 1987 and served as its chairman from 1987 to 1995 and vice chairman until its merger with Sprint Corp. in 2005. The thoughts expressed in this column are Mr. O’Brien’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the PSST or Cyren Call.
You may contact Morgan at MObrien@cyrencall.com. You may contact RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
