WASHINGTON-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told the Federal Communications Commission recently that any plan to solve the public-safety interference problem in the 800 MHz band must be self financing, and if an allocation of replacement spectrum is necessary, an...
WASHINGTON-Ten years after Congress authorized auctions to award wireless permits, the market-based licensing scheme continues be a magnet for those needing funding for pet projects, but the Federal Communications Commission's strong embrace of intelligent radio technology and commercial exploitation of unlicensed spectrum could force...
WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell told Congress he is opposed to an amendment in a spending bill that would exempt from spectrum auction an application of a wireless startup with strong political connections to provide digital broadcast service to rural areas using hybrid...
WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee may have killed the wireless industry's hopes of gaining much-desired frequencies in the 1700 MHz band when it amended a bill to allow the Pentagon to be reimbursed for vacating that spectrum.The amendment would allow a digital broadcast satellite license...
WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee passed by voice vote a bill meant to keep the NextWave Telecom Inc. bankruptcy saga from happening again."The bill would ensure that valuable spectrum would not go unused unnecessarily. It precludes a successful bidder in a spectrum auction to avoid...
WASHINGTON-A watchdog group said a quasi-governmental corporation set up to fund small telecom startups spends nearly as much on executive salaries and overhead as on investments in companies.The Center for Public Integrity said its investigation found the Telecommunications Development Fund paid more than $7...
A recently completed Federal Communications Commission paging spectrum auction generated about $2.4 million for a total of 2,832 licenses, numbers that come nowhere near the billions spent on other wireless spectrum auctions in recent years, but results that provide further evidence of the still-active...
WASHINGTON-House telecom subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) introduced legislation to create a trust fund that would use spectrum auction proceeds to underwrite the cost of moving military radio systems to new frequencies in order to free up spectrum for mobile-phone carriers. While the bipartisan...
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-Movicom BellSouth was the only operator that presented the prequalification documents to participate in the spectrum auction that will take place on 18 November in Uruguay. As it is, the company will only be interested in acquiring 10 megahertz on the 1900...
WASHINGTON-House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) today introduced legislation to establish a fund to underwrite the cost of moving government licensees to other bands in order to free up spectrum for third-generation wireless systems.The relocation fund, a key to implementing the Bush administration's...
WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on whether bidders in the re-auction of bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc.'s PCS C- and F-block licenses should be able to withdraw entirely from the re-auction or choose to keep certain licenses and discard the rest."Since the commission...
OXFORD, United Kingdom-In an effort to revive broadband wireless services in the United Kingdom, the government has outlined plans for an auction of the 3.4 GHz band that will carry the service. This move follows extensive industry consultation in April in an attempt to...
WASHINGTON-The Bush administration's top telecom adviser today refused to say how much longer a much anticipated report on frequency options for third-generation wireless systems and related legislation will be delayed. National Telecommunications and Information Administration head Nancy Victory, addressing a luncheon sponsored by...
WASHINGTON—The negotiators finally reached a settlement agreement on 14 November that will give the personal communications services (PCS) C- and F-block licenses of bankrupt NextWave Telecom to the re-auction winners, but it is unclear whether Congress will pass legislation, as called for in the...
WASHINGTON—The negotiators finally reached a settlement agreement Thursday that will give the PCS C- and F-block licenses of bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc. to the re-auction winners. It remains unclear whether Congress will pass legislation, as called for in the agreement, by the end of...
HONG KONG—The Hong Kong telecom regulator announced the initial results of the first phase of its third-generation (3G) license auction.The successful bidders are Hong Kong CSL, a company jointly owned by Telstra and Pacific Century CyberWorks; Hutchison 3G HK, a company jointly owned by...
JAKARTA, Indonesia-Amid an unpredictable economic crisis, Indonesia's telecommunication sector is moving forward, with new regulation in effect since 8 September, 2000. The new regulation, which says any company can provide telecommunication services, has received positive market response. Many new players, mostly cellular and wireless...
TORONTO-The Canadian government may give a new meaning to the sounds of silence for wireless devices. Ottawa is considering changing its laws to allow restaurants, theaters, hospitals and churches to silence cell phones by jamming radio signals. Jamming devices work by sending out an...
AustraliaAustralia's third-generation (3G) spectrum auction fell well short of the federal government's budget forecasts of A$2.6 billion (US$1.3 billion). Six bidders paid a total of almost A$1.17 billion (US$577 million) for spectrum in the 2 GHz band. The auction felt an early blow when...
WASHINGTON-Jeb Bush, the Florida governor who figured big in the controversial electoral victory that proved decisive in getting his brother elected president, has entered the political fray over third-generation mobile-phone spectrum by urging the Federal Communications Commission to let schools keep frequencies sought by...
WASHINGTON-House and Senate budget leaders are at odds over President Bush's plan to delay auctions of valuable broadcast spectrum, a dispute that arises at a time when the mobile-phone industry desperately wants to secure additional frequencies for third-generation wireless systems.The Senate budget resolution embraces...
WASHINGTON-Last December, two months after President Clinton ordered government studies on spectrum availability for third-generation wireless systems and at a time when mobile-phone and Pentagon officials were intensely studying the issue, Senate Armed Services Committee member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) quietly directed the General Accounting...
Wireless industry insiders increasingly seem to be making the case that governments should consider "rebates" to carriers that bid too much money at spectrum auctions for third-generation wireless services. While they make some strong points, one has to wonder how many times this issue...
WASHINGTON-Whether the nation is plagued with daunting deficits or buoyed by gushing surpluses, spectrum auctions remain a lightning rod for controversy as the revenue-generating wireless licensing tool becomes inextricably intertwined in national budget policy.This was inevitable.Spectrum auctions grew out of a 1993 budget bill...
