WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took the 2500 MHz band out of consideration for third-generation (3G) wireless services, but relaxed rules to allow mobile use of frequencies previously limited to fixed communications.
The FCC ruling comes in response to heavy pressure from Congress on behalf of schools, churches, WorldCom and Sprint, which vigorously opposed sharing the band or moving off it to make room for 3G services.
While the vote to remove the 2500 MHz band from the list of 3G candidate bands was 5-0, Democratic FCC members Michael Copps and Gloria Tristani, who has since left the agency, dissented to the mobile component of the decision.
“Building upon the FCC’s prior decisions to expand the potential uses of the 2500-2690 MHz band, the FCC will rely on market forces rather than making regulatory judgments about the best use of the band,” stated the Republican majority of FCC Chairman Michael Powell and commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Kevin Martin.
The mobile-phone industry said use of 2500 MHz for 3G is unlikely because of the complicated fashion of licensing in the band.
With 2500 MHz gone and prospects for industry use of the military’s 1700 MHz band rapidly fading as the nation readies for war against global terrorism, the U.S. mobile-phone industry is left without any solid options for securing addition frequencies for high-speed Internet phones.<
