BROWSING: Policy

Public safety rallies for public-private partnership on D Block: Lawmakers raise questions on 700 MHz conditions

Public-safety groups scrambled to salvage support for a private-sector funded national wireless broadband network shared by first responders and a commercial entity, following calls by some House Republicans to abandon in the 700 MHz D-Block re-auction that they consider a fatally flawed experiment."APCO International...

Lawmakers reconsider in wake of 700 MHz auction: Some call for D-Block conditions to be removed

While the Federal Communications Commission's failure to attract a bidder for a national commercial-public safety spectrum license dominated a House telecom subcommittee hearing today, the panel's review of the 700 MHz auction also served as a platform for addressing other major wireless policy issues.Indeed,...

Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment by poking your head over the top of the cube.

Our favorite country to the North, Canada, is going to have its own spectrum auction next month. We can't wait! Will Google play? Will bidders shell out billions to build 3G networks and then find uptake is slow and beg the government for relief?...

700 MHz to be LTE heavy: AT&T Mobility, VZW announce LTE plans for highly touted spectrum

THE NATION'S TOP TWO CARRIERS plan to deploy Long Term Evolution network technology over their recent spectrum winnings. However, Verizon Wireless executives said an LTE rollout won't happen until 2010 at the earliest, while those from AT&T Mobility pegged a rollout date as far...

LTE to cover much of 700 MHz band, but deployments still on horizon: Qualcomm to use auction winnings for MediaFLO

The nation's top two carriers plan to deploy Long Term Evolution network technology over their recent spectrum winnings. However, Verizon Wireless executives said an LTE rollout won't happen until 2010 at the earliest, while those from AT&T Mobility pegged a rollout date as far...

Cyren Call: Don’t blame us for Frontline’s demise

Cyren Call Communications Corp. said it never demanded long-term payments as a condition for a winning bidder of the 700 MHz national commercial/public-safety license, breaking its silence in response to news reports and blog postings that strongly suggested it caused the demise of one-time...

700 MHz trial balloon

Telecom policymakers and special-interest groups are fond of talking about ubiquity, making sure communications -- wireless, wireline, Internet and video -- are within reach of all Americans. Indeed, there are government subsidy programs that address this very issue. Take the stressed universal service regime...

The Q&A: Richard Lowe

Richard Lowe is president of carrier networks at Nortel Networks Inc. The Carrier Networks group, which is Nortel's largest division, includes a large portfolio of mobility and converged solutions including CDMA, GSM, VoIP/IMS, WiMAX/4G. Q: It seems the infrastructure market has experienced some turbulence...

Mobile TV space looks for growth in 2008

Mobile television is all over the place, yet going nowhere fast all at the same time. Consumer choice for TV and video on their cellphones is pretty robust, but that's only if they know it even exists.Sure, mobile TV and video usage is growing...

FCC’s McDowell argues for lighter regulatory touch: 700 MHz results show the big getting bigger

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- With results from the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz auction now public, Commissioner Robert McDowell said one thing stands out: large, deep-pocketed companies squeezed smaller (and in some cases newer) players out of the process -- despite government mandates that were...

700 MHz auction ends: Wireless heavyweights biggest players, others surprise

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility ran the table at the 700 MHz auction, accounting for most of the record $19.6 billion in bidding that broke historic ground on open access, lost ground on public safety and gave dozens of mostly white-male-owned small businesses a...

700 MHz: Industry takes stock as dust clears

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility ran the table at the 700 MHz auction, accounting for most of the record $19.6 billion in bidding that broke historic ground on open access, lost ground on public safety and gave dozens of mostly white-male-owned small businesses a...

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility on top in 700 MHz auction results: Google leaves event empty-handed

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility won the vast majority of the 700 MHz spectrum up for grabs during the Federal Communications Commission's recently completed auction. Verizon Wireless was the event's biggest spender, doling out $9.63 billion (fully half of the almost $20 billion in...

D-Block dustup casts questions on Martin, Frontline, Cyren Call

A coalition of consumer and public-interest groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to probe the 700 MHz auction's failure to attract a winning bidder for the national commercial-public safety D-Block license, an outcome of growing interest to Congress."In particular, PISC asks the commission to...

In auction’s aftermath, D Block questions linger

With the close of a 700 MHz auction whose mixed results still remain largely unknown, the spotlight now shifts to how policymakers at the Federal Communications Commissions and Congress will respond to a national commercial-public safety license left to languish after 38 days and...

IT’S OVER: 700 MHz auction ends after 38 days, 261 rounds: Event generates record $20B in provisionally winning bids

It took 38 days and 261 rounds, but the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction came to an end this afternoon, having raised $19.592 billon for the U.S. treasury. The haul is a record for an FCC-run auction and nearly double the high...

700 MHz auction keeps on keeping on: Bidders pass round 256 with handful of bids

The Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction trudged into day 38 of bidding activity due to a small number of bids -- in some cases a single bid placed during a round -- that continue to be placed on a handful of licenses.Over...

700 MHz auction goes to 14 rounds per day: Move could speed auction end

The Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz auction took on a more heated feel today as the agency increased the number of rounds per day from 10 to 14. A similar move during the advanced wireless services auction in 2006 brought about an almost immediate...

As auction wanes, public safety weighs its options: Former NTIA Chief says it’s OK that D-Block bidding languishes, other disagree

As the 700 MHz auction winds to a close - apparently without a winning bidder for the commercial/public-safety license or a clear roadmap for meeting first responders' communications needs - progress is nonetheless being made on other fronts.The Department of Homeland Security's Science and...

T-Mobile USA, Leap ready to roll out AWS markets

Almost 18 months after the advanced wireless services spectrum auction wrapped, carriers are on the verge of commercially launching networks and devices that make use of the recently cleared 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum bands.Although the carrier hasn't launched any AWS markets yet, Leap Wireless International...

Hedgehogging: hedge*hog*ging v. Interrupting conversations in an office environment

So let us get this straight. 100,000 developers paid $100 a piece to download Apple's new SDK for the iPhone. We are no math majors, but doesn't that translate to like $10 million? Apple is amazing.-------------------------------FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is in so much trouble...

Worst of the Week: An iPhone SDK and too much time on my hands

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. We...

700 MHz auction tempo remains steady: Focus continues to shift to lower-priced licenses

It appears bidders were not frightened off by passing the 200-round milestone in the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction as new bids continue to trickle in at a slow but steady rate. New bids fluctuated between four and six for each of...

700 MHz: Bidding focus changes, action remains slow: E-Block license covering American Samoa gets active

Bidding remained slow during the last half of day 33 and the beginning of day 34 of the Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz spectrum auction, with the previous 10 rounds of bidding attracting between five and six new bids per round. Click here for...