BROWSING: WCA

Reader Forum: 21st Century Silicon Valley’s second decade

With the end of 2010, I’ve been reflecting on the past decade and all that has changed.  It seems impossible to me that 2000 was over 10 years ago; not in that “Wow where has the time gone?” sense but rather in a “I...

Reader Forum: 21st Century Silicon Valley’s second decade

With the end of 2010, I’ve been reflecting on the past decade and all that has changed.  It seems impossible to me that 2000 was over 10 years ago; not in that “Wow where has the time gone?” sense but rather in a “I...

Rural groups want FCC to reinstate spectrum cap at 110 MHz below 2.3 GHz band

Resurrection of the spectrum cap could prove tricky for the Federal Communications Commission next year when Democrats seize control of the agency, given President-elect Barack Obama's call for expanded broadband deployment in a market dominated by telephone and cable TV giants and the promise...

Obama Presidency will draw from campaign’s tech ‘lessons learned’

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. Sixteen months ago, George Washington University convened Web strategists from leading Presidential campaigns and social networking...

The house that Andy built : WiMAX as a disruptive force?

These are interesting times for WiMAX. One might even say the moment of truth has arrived. Indeed, Nov. 4 is also decision day for WiMAX in the United States. If a high-powered Sprint Nextel Corp.-Clearwire Corp. union cannot launch WiMAX in America, what can?...

Where are today’s best job opportunities?

Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace. Where are the best positions in information and communications technology? That was, in essence, the...

Managing rollout delay: WiMAX delays further cloud Sprint Nextel’s sky

SPRINT NEXTEL CORP. HAS WATCHED its self-imposed deadline for a commercial WiMAX network launch slip by as backhaul and billing systems appear to be causing greater headaches than originally expected.The carrier planned to commercially launch its Xohm network in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.,...

WCA applauds 2.5 GHz ruling

The wireless broadband industry said a new ruling should help promote deployment of high-speed Internet services - commercial and educational - in the 2.5 GHz band, but flagged lingering problems in use of the frequency band in the Gulf of Mexico region."WCA thanks the...

TIA,WCA warn against Globalstar ‘cellular’moves: Mobile satellite provider wants to deploy WiMAX network using terrestrial component in rural areas

Globalstar Inc.'s bid to secure additional mobile satellite service spectrum for land-based networks - including a possible WiMAX system covering hundreds of rural communities - is drawing criticism based on fears of interference to wireless broadband licensees. Competitive concerns could be at work as...

FCC set to clarify 2.3 GHz spectrum band rules: Move expected to prevent interference between terrestrial radio, wireless broadband services

The wireless broadband industry hailed a new Federal Communications Commission effort to write rules to prevent satellite radio terrestrial repeaters from interfering with WiMAX services planned in the 2.3 GHz spectrum band.The FCC recently decided to update the public record to better ascertain how...

700 MHz band to be used for broadband worldwide

The United States teamed with neighboring countries to get the 700 MHz band identified for wireless broadband services in the Americas and major markets in Asia at the close of the World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, effectively setting the foundation for a global...

Bringing combatants together: Industry associations provide united front

With the wireless sector the most competitive in the telecom industry, it is hard to imagine that company executives can simultaneously beat each other's brains out in the marketplace and work in harmony on issues of common interest. But they do for the most...

WiMAX approved as IMT standard

The International Telecommunication Union agreed to include WiMAX technology in the global family of advanced wireless technologies. The win is a major victory for vendors and service providers on the eve of the World Radiocommunication Conference that the Bush administration hopes to build on...

WCA: Globalstar’s rule change could cause interference

The wireless broadband industry opposes on interference grounds Globalstar Inc.'s push to have federal regulators consider an ancillary terrestrial component rule change that the mobile satellite service operator claims would put it on equal footing with competitors. Globalstar last year petitioned the Federal Communications...

UNWANTED ATTENTION: M2Z’s plan to offer broadband solicits flurry of negative reactions

For the past eight months, M2Z Networks Inc. stood alone behind a plan that might actually aid President Bush's quest for universal and affordable broadband service in the United States. Now it suddenly has company. It comes in the form of petitions to deny...

The case for the closed Internet

The other day I came home to find my daughter in front of the computer, talking on the phone with her friend, Natasha, as they were competing in a friendly game of penguin fishing. That's so last year, I thought. Having just returned from the...

Skeptics be damned. WiMAX supporters shoot for the stars

SAN JOSE, Calif.-The potential for mobile WiMAX is as big as the Internet itself, if you trust the true believers gathered last week in San Jose, Calif., for the Wireless Communications Alliance International's 13th annual symposium. Mobile WiMAX technology will create a new category...

WiMAX vendors bemoan satellite radio interference

WASHINGTON—A group of wireless broadband companies complained that Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Inc. should not be allowed to continue operating unauthorized and over-powered terrestrial repeaters in the 2 GHz band.The WCS Coalition, a group including Sprint Nextel Corp., BellSouth Corp., NextWave...

Sirius operating out of bounds

WASHINGTON-Fresh revelations of terrestrial repeaters being improperly operated by a satellite radio company further fueled a mushrooming controversy at the Federal Communications Commission, one with potentially major implications for wireless broadband companies planning to invest millions of dollars in coming years on U.S. WiMAX...

Messy moves: Relocation, re-banding efforts often complex

WASHINGTON-Government spectrum managers are being challenged like no time before in efforts to clear the way for next-generation mobile phone and wireless broadband services-as well as rectify serious interference problems-through messy licensee relocation and frequency re-banding processes. Indeed, relocation and re-banding glitches have tended...

Adelstein laments BRS interference

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joined the wireless industry in expressing concern about federal guides for relocating broadband licensees from the 2150-2162 MHz band to make room for advanced wireless services. "I was disappointed … because we were unable to adopt self-relocation procedures that...

Former FCC commissioner: Early-termination fees assist consumers

WASHINGTON-Mobile-phone carriers last week stepped up their campaign to have the Federal Communications Commission make early-termination fees off limits to states, a huge issue that has taken on greater significance in light of industry's failure to secure expanded federal pre-emption in telecom reform legislation...

Educational spectrum owners can extend leases on excess capacity at 2.5 GHz

WASHINGTON-Federal regulators last week agreed to give wireless broadband carriers improved access to educational spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, a move sought by telecom and a major investment firm, but resisted until recently by a powerful parochial school system. The Federal Communications Commission...

FCC to allow excess-capacity leases for 2.5 GHz spectrum holders

WASHINGTON—Federal regulators today agreed to an outside compromise plan giving wireless broadband carriers improved access to educational spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. The Federal Communications Commission said it would allow educational broadband licensees to enter into excess-capacity leases for a maximum of 30...