An association of rural wireless providers petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to re-impose a spectrum cap in light of the growing market presence of AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless in the mobile phone industry."In the absence of a spectrum cap, Verizon and AT&T will...
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN said it will be hard to hold either the D-Block re-auction or advanced wireless services-3 bidding this year because of intense controversy over rules. Thus, competition for two valuable blocks of public airwaves likely will play out under...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is coming under mounting pressure to back off a controversial plan to auction a national wireless Internet license that would require the winning bidder to provide free broadband service, open access and filtering to block obscene content. But...
The Federal Communications Commission begrudgingly agreed to a brief public comment extension on a controversial free-wireless Internet plan. The plan is opposed by major mobile-phone carriers, which fear interference to their operations, and Republican lawmakers, because of license conditions they claim will lead again...
T-Mobile USA Inc. asked the Federal Communications Commission to extend up to three months the public comment cycle for a controversial free wireless Internet plan, a request that would provide additional time for interference testing and likely delay a final decision until after the...
Two key House Republicans urged the Federal Communications Commission not to attach conditions to advanced wireless services-3 spectrum and to forgo approval of final rules for that band until after the 700 MHz D-Block re-auction. "We think your proposed rules could repeat this mistake...
Comments on what the FCC should do with the 700 MHz D Block ran the gamut, with some urging the agency to tighten its rules on a public-private sharing of the spectrum while others recommended the D Block be auctioned without any conditions whatsoever.The...
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CHAIRMAN KEVIN MARTIN APPEARS DETERMINED to win approval for a free, family-friendly national wireless broadband plan, despite being forced to delay an upcoming vote on the measure after concerns were raised about potential interference to mobile-phone systems and about a content-filter...
Industry Canada's ongoing advanced wireless services spectrum auction hit a bit of a milestone as the average price per megahertz per potential customer covered eclipsed the 54 cents per MHz/pop generated during the U.S. AWS auction, which was held in 2006. The Canadian licenses...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION SET A JUNE 20 DEADLINE for public comment on D-Block revisions, but already the agency has begun receiving suggestions from industry, public safety and academics. Most filings focus on how D-Block rules can be restructured to attract bidders capable of...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin scheduled a vote on rules for another major spectrum auction, one that would encompass 25 megahertz in the 2155-2180 MHz advanced wireless services band and require the winning bidder to offer free broadband service under an aggressive build-out...
Google Inc. co-founder Larry Page said there are not technical impediments to making vacant television channels - white spaces - available for unlicensed wireless broadband access, but that powerful lobbying forces want to convince the Federal Communications Commission otherwise."I think the debate has been...
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION'S ATTEMPT TO REVAMP the 700 MHz D Block could be shaped as much by substance as by timing, with Democrats seemingly in less of a hurry than Chairman Kevin Martin to get the valuable spectrum auctioned before the end of...
The Federal Communications Commission today launched a wide-ranging proceeding to revamp D-Block rules, an effort that will not only examine changes to the national public safety/commercial license left stranded in the 700 MHz auction but also consider whether the public-private partnership approach should be...
The 700 MHz auction ended two months ago, but you'd never know it.Few things rarely are settled in official Washington. The Federal Communications Commission this week plans to launch a rulemaking to consider changes to the D Block. The national public-safety/commercial licensee was stranded...
Verizon Wireless is downplaying a Google Inc. effort to have the Federal Communications Commission extract an explicit commitment from the No. 2 cellular carrier that it will adhere to open-access requirements governing a nationwide collection of regional C-Block licenses won at the 700 MHz...
Public Spectrum Safety Trust Corp. Chairman Harlin McEwen appears to have distanced himself from a key element in a new Federal Communications Commission inspector general report, which cleared Cyren Call Communications Corp. of any wrongdoing prior to the failed auction of the 700 MHz...
The U.S. Supreme Court without comment declined to review a Tenth Circuit ruling that said the trustee of bankrupt Magnacom Wireless L.L.C. is not entitled to proceeds from the re-auction of the company's cancelled wireless licenses.Magnacom paid nearly $48 million for 13 F-Block personal...
Fresh off a handful of license wins in the 700 MHz auction last month in the United States, Qualcomm Inc. is now eyeing spectrum in Britain, yet the company says it is not interested in becoming an operator in that country."Qualcomm does not intend...
Dish Network Corp. isn't wasting time as it considers what technology might be the best fit for spectrum it recently won in the 700 MHz auction. The company partnered with Alcatel-Lucent to test DVB-SH mobile TV broadcast technology with equipment, tools and training provided...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said the agency will at next month's open meeting consider rule changes to the 700 MHz D Block, which failed attract a bidder willing to pay at least $1.3 billion for the national commercial/public-safety wireless license and fomented...
A former executive of now-defunct Frontline Wireless L.L.C. said rules for the national commercial/public-safety license that went unclaimed in the recently completed 700 MHz auction were ambiguous and poorly designed, warning that a rush to re-auction the D Block without making fundamental changes would...
Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Christopher Cannon (R-Utah) introduced a bill to foster deployment of a national, family-friendly wireless broadband network with open access, an initiative the mobile-phone industry was quick to pounce on.The Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act, which includes components of...
