Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin suddenly faces congressional pressure to pare down the Dec. 18 meeting agenda, a development that could blow up a scheduled a vote on a free, family friendly wireless broadband plan.Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.),...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and the Bush administration are on a collision course over a possible Dec. 18 vote on a free, family-friendly wireless auction plan, uncharacteristically bringing into public view a high-stakes policy dispute between the Republican White House and...
Election Day 2008 is shaping up as monumental for the wireless industry.The Federal Communications Commission is poised to vote Nov. 4 on the Sprint Nextel Corp.-Clearwire Corp. and the Verizon Wireless-Alltel Communications L.L.C. tie-ups as well as on wireless operations in TV white spaces,...
The Federal Communications Commission tentatively concluded that nationwide broadband operations in the advanced wireless services-3 band will not interfere with T-Mobile USA Inc. and others in the advanced wireless services-1 band, possibly signaling the agency is close to issuing final rules for an auction...
The Federal Communications Commission voted to put in play a new 700 MHz auction plan to foster improved public-safety and commercial wireless broadband communications. However, several commissioners raised concerns over whether potential bidders would be able to secure financing in light of Wall Street's...
The government's goal of restructuring 700 MHz public-safety/commercial rules by year's end and conducting a re-auction in mid-2009 could be in jeopardy, with key House members urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to slow down the rulemaking so parties have more time to...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin unveiled a new plan to auction valuable airwaves to foster interoperable public-safety/commercial communications around the country. The proposal takes nationwide and regional licensing approaches, and retains a public-private partnership approach and advances other reforms sought in the aftermath...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin unveiled a new plan to auction valuable airwaves to foster interoperable public-safety communications around the country, a proposal with nationwide and regional licensing approaches that retains a public-private partnership structure. The plan also advances other reforms sought in...
The Canadian government's auction of 105 megahertz of spectrum in the 1710-1755/2110-2155 MHz band, also known as the advanced wireless services spectrum (similar to what was offered by the Federal Communications Commission in 2006), wrapped up this morning after 331 rounds of bidding that...
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...
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...
The Federal Communications Commission is rushing toward auctioning too much spectrum in too short a period of time and is going to be disappointed with the results. While auctioning 25 megahertz of AWS-3 spectrum and designating a portion of that spectrum for "free" wireless...
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...
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...
A bipartisan group of senators urged Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to abandon a plan to use reverse auctions to award universal service fund support to eligible telecom carriers in rural areas."Reverse auctions leave too many unanswered questions about stranded investment and the...
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...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a fine assessed against Star Wireless L.L.C. for violating the anti-collusion rule in a 2002 auction conducted by the Federal Communications Commission.The FCC originally fined Star Wireless and Northeast Communications of Wisconsin...
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...
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,...
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...
The TV white spaces debate -- already highly controversial and politicized, but largely limited to potential unlicensed Wi-Fi use -- just got messier.The mobile-phone industry recommended to the Federal Communications Commission that most vacant broadcast channels be auctioned for area-wide licensing. Cellular trade group...
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...
