If the debate over third-generation mobile-phone spectrum depended solely on financial lobbying clout, the well-heeled cellular industry would be awash in radio frequencies by now. Case closed. Complete, total victory. But the mobile-phone industry is up against interest groups with the kind of politically potent causes that money can’t buy.
Last week, the Bush administration, already under pressure from military top brass not to compromise national security by giving the 1700 MHz band to the mobile-phone industry, heard from folks at the heart of the president’s domestic agenda.
Led by Monsignor Michael Dempsey (president of the Catholic Television Network Inc.), religious and education leaders-side by side with small and large fixed wireless Internet carriers-urged Commerce Secretary Don Evans to take the 2500 MHz band off the table. Period.
The congregation of fixed wireless licensees lamented about the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the 2500 MHz band, which they said is having a chilling effect on investment and system expansion. Who gets hurt? School children, religious students and American high-tech firms, they warned.
Heaven knows it’s a tough spot for Evans. Not because Evans might be excommunicated for the sin of giving away their spectrum or ordered to sit in the corner for misbehaving, but because this is possibly a big political loser for his boss. How can a president who trumpets the virtues of faith-based initiatives and education reform turn his back on the 2500 MHz Club? Bush can’t, and he won’t. Perhaps Evans saw George W’s political life flash before his eyes as he sat before the 18 representatives of the 2500 MHz band last Wednesday. 2004’s right around the corner. The president cannot afford any more defections.
To punctuate the point, the 2500 MHz Club introduced Evans to Curtis Henderson and Russell Wiseman, top executives at Nucentrix Broadband Networks Inc. of Plano, Texas. The firm has experimental licenses in Austin and Sherman-Denison. Florida’s Vernon Crawford, of the Palm Beach County school district, attended, too. In fact, he and Wiseman were two of the chosen speakers. You could say Texas and Florida carry special meaning around here.
Faced with such an all-powerful entreaty, Evan was left to reply, “I think I got the message.”
Whether Evans will now lean on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, whose agency has ultimate say on the 2500 MHz band, is another question. But that is exactly what the 2500 MHz Club wants Evans to do now, notwithstanding the mobile-phone industry’s request that the final FCC 3G spectrum decision be delayed beyond July 30. Epiphany time for Evans.
