The immediate problem has been solved. The 700 MHz auction has been postponed to March 6. Now the government quickly must decide on a long-term strategy for the use of the spectrum.
If government wants the wireless industry to pay for 700 MHz frequencies, rules need to be in place to ensure broadcasters move off the spectrum by a specific date in the near future. 2007 is too long to ask wireless companies to wait to decide whether their business plans for new spectrum will work.
The wireless industry craves more spectrum, and spectrum at 700 MHz is especially sweet, so the fact that industry is applauding a decision to delay the auction should raise red flags in Congress and at the White House.
The problem with the 700 MHz spectrum is it may be useless to wireless carriers because there are no policies in place to guarantee that successful bidders ever will be able to use spectrum.
TV broadcasters located at 700 MHz don’t have to turn the spectrum back to the government until they make the transition to digital TV (slated for Jan. 1, 2007,) and 85 percent of the homes to which they broadcast are equipped with digital receivers.
But broadcasters have lost interest in offering high-definition TV, which was the initial reason for giving (yes, giving) the broadcasters an additional six megahertz of spectrum.
Now broadcasters are more interested in offering enhanced services, like datacasting. The TV industry also is fighting about which standard to use for digital TV (read “delay”).
As for the FCC’s target date of 2006 to digital conversion, “There’s no chance,” said Ed Grebow, president of Sony Corp.’s Broadcast & Professional Co., one of the major players in digital TV efforts. Grebow was quoted in an RCR sister publication, Electronic Media, which covers the broadcasting industry.
For its part, the FCC has determined it is “in the public interest” for broadcasters and bidders to negotiate to clear the band-a pretty vague statement. Contrast that policy with the mandatory relocation policies the FCC wrote to ensure microwave companies would leave the PCS frequencies i.e, voluntary relocation the first year and mandatory relocation later.
So let’s review: The wireless industry needs more spectrum; TV broadcasters have extra free spectrum, which they were given to offer HDTV; But broadcasters are unenthusiastic about offering HDTV; And there are no incentives in place to push broadcasters off the spectrum.
And government expects the wireless industry to pay big bucks for this spectrum?
Now that’s a well thought-out plan.
