Obama, FCC expand strategy to increase wireless broadband access

As President Obama lays out his wireless broadband initiative today at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich., the Federal Communications Commission is moving forward with its own plans to reduce regulatory barriers to broadband deployment. Both initiatives are evidence that the administration realizes the important role wireless plays in the economy, said PCIA President Mike Fitch.
Fitch and other PCIA executives took part in the agency’s two-day Broadband Acceleration Conference in Washington, D.C. The conference offered a wide-ranging discussion of siting challenges that infrastructure companies and wireless operators face, as well as provided potential solutions, Fitch said. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined his Broadband Acceleration designed to ease tower-siting and other regulatory barriers to broadband deployment.
An internal FCC task force will be formed to find ways to overcome regulatory barriers in order to reduce the time required for broadband buildout by at least 20% under Genachowski’s plan. The FCC also in April is expected to vote on an order to streamline access to pole attachments and reduce costs. “For us, the highest priority is around regulations for collocations and modifications on existing sites. It’s a waste of time not only for the applicants, but for the localities themselves and certainly for the public,” Fitch said.
These measures should work hand in hand with local jurisdictions, much like the tower-siting shot clock does, Fitch said. “We’re just pleased to have the focus on wireless and wireless broadband,” as the federal government and local communities realize that … to participate in society today, you need broadband access wherever you are, and that’s got to be wireless.”
The government realizes that wireless broadband means jobs and economic growth for the country, added Tim House, PCIA’s director of marketing and sales.
Next steps include working closely with the FCC to fast-track issues like pole attachment in the coming weeks, Fitch said. In March, the FCC’s Technical Advisory Council plans to report on specific steps the FCC can take to spur broadband adoption.
Obama today is expected to expound upon his plans to raise up to $28 billion from auctioning wireless spectrum, and using $5 billion of those funds to bring wireless Internet to rural areas, and about $11 billion of that money to fund a public-safety network, according to published reports.