Wireless Week says President George W. Bush is pushing a Spectrum Policy Initiative as an important part for the country’s economic future today in a speech to the American Association of Community Colleges.
In remarks before the organization’s Minneapolis convention, this afternoon, the president said his spectrum policy approach as a keystone for future technological innovation. He linked development of future broadband services, wireless services and tax-free broadband access as key economic drivers.
The speech contains other ideas that, according to the president, would spur “a new generation of American innovation,” with wireless broadband being front and center among the issues central for technological innovation.
The Bush administration says 90 MHz of spectrum could be taken from the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Defense as a critical development of future broadband services — the spectrum is scheduled for auction for next-generation wireless services. “Once the 90 MHz is auctioned, multiple wireless carriers will have the opportunity to become broadband carriers — stimulating vigorous competition and bringing lower prices,” the President said.
“…Now, the use of broadband has tripled since 2000 from 7 million subscriber lines to 24 million. That’s good. But that’s way short of the goal for 2007. And so — by the way, we rank 10th amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That’s not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low as far as I’m concerned. (Applause.)
Broadband technology must be affordable. In order to make sure it gets spread to all corners of the country, it must be affordable. We must not tax broadband access. If you want broadband access throughout the society, Congress must ban taxes on access. (Applause.)
Secondly, a proper role for the government is to clear regulatory hurdles so those who are going to make investments do so. Broadband is going to spread because it’s going to make sense for private sector companies to spread it so long as the regulatory burden is reduced — in other words, so long as policy at the government level encourages people to invest, not discourages investment.
And so here are some smart things to do: One, increase access to federal land for fiberoptic cables and transmission towers. That makes sense. As you’re trying to get broadband spread throughout the company, make sure it’s easy to build across federal lands. One sure way to hold things up is that the federal lands say, you can’t build on us. So how is some guy in remote Wyoming going to get any broadband technology? Regulatory policy has got to be wise and smart as we encourage the spread of this important technology. There needs to be technical standards to make possible new broadband technologies, such as the use of high-speed communication directly over power lines. Power lines were for electricity; power lines can be used for broadband technology. So the technical standards need to be changed to encourage that.
And we need to open up more federally controlled wireless spectrum to auction in free public use, to make wireless broadband more accessible, reliable, and affordable. Listen, one of the technologies that’s coming is wireless. And if you’re living out in — I should — I was going to say Crawford, Texas, but it’s not — maybe not nearly as remote. (Laughter.) How about Terlingua, Texas? There’s not a lot of wires out there. But wireless technology is going to change all that so long as government policy makes sense.
And we’re going to continue to support the Federal Communications Commission. Michael Powell — Chairman Michael Powell, under his leadership, his decision to eliminate burdensome regulations on new broadband networks availability to homes. In other words, clearing out the underbrush of regulation, and we’ll get the spread of broadband technology, and America will be better for it”… (Applause.)
Several Democrats, including Sen. John Kerry, sent a letter Friday to President George W. Bush criticizing his broadband policy. Simply stating a goal is not enough. Without aggressive and concrete action, we are concerned that the goal will not be met, wrote the senators. The administration has not only undermined existing programs, it has not offered any positive alternatives. For example, we have supported tax credits for broadband deployment, as Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D.W.V.) has been proposing for several years, but you have not included any comparable proposal in any of your budgets or tax-cut packages. Nor have you exercised vocal leadership on regulatory, tax or other issues relating to broadband.
SBC was quick to applaud the President’s plan. The FCC is tasked with “finding” spectrum and managing it.
“We ought to have universal, affordable access to broadband technology by the year 2007″, said President George W. Bush while highlighting home ownership “in New Mexico last month.
Other nations have broadband plans:
- Canada, which already has twice the broadband penetration of the United States, has a New National Dream: Networking the Nation for Broadband Access.
- Full (100%) broadband access is expected to be available throughout Northern Ireland by the end of next year. The government is keen to promote its take-up, saying use of broadband could produce 4.7bn in productivity and cost savings for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK.
- Broadband development is a key priority for the Australian Government. Their spectrum policies have created a “4G war” that pits Personal Broadband (Arraycomm) vrs Unwired Australia (Navini) in Sydney and other cities across the continent.
- South Korea, a country of 48 million people, is the broadband capital of the world with 70% penetration (a year ago). Most pay about $33 monthly for an 8 megabit-per-second DSL connection. Over 90 percent live within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of a broadband-enabled local telephone exchange. Wireless access, which allows subscribers to access numerous public Wi-Fi networks, costs an extra $8.50 a month. Korea Telecom (KT), SK Telecom (SK) and Hanaro Telecom (HT) have operational Navini and Flarion “4G” clouds.
- Broadband4Britian and Broadband for Scotland are lobby groups similar to TechNet in the U.S..
- Sweden leads all countries in Internet penetration at 76.9%.
The Bush Administration has long targeted the USDA’s Rural Utility Service (RUS) loans as budgetary fat.
The specific frequencies were not mentioned in the Bush speech. The best frequencies would be around 700Mhz, although the re-auctioned television channels are only 6Mhz wide (times two for 3G cellular).
Vyyo has launched its licensed-band 700 MHz broadband wireless access system, which is available for operation in markets worldwide. Polar Communications, provides telecom services to more than 12,000 subscribers in North Dakota and Minnesota, is the first operator to commercially deploy Vyyo s new 700 MHz system. Polar is using the 700 MHz system to deliver services to the city of Larimore, N.D., which has dense foliage. Utilizing the 700 MHz band enables better penetration through such obstacles as foliage, as well as better indoor penetration, according to Stewart Kantor, Vyyo s business manager.
The FCC recently auctioned off the 700 Mhz C channel (Channels 54 and 59) in the 700 MHz band, allowing licensed broadband wireless operations in that band. Previously, the 700 MHz band was reserved for UHF television broadcasts. UHF broadcasters are supposed to vacate the 700 MHz band by 2006. That band can provide 28 Mbps in the downlink, with near plug-and-play operation within a five-mile radius of a tower.
The FCC opened the (licensed) 3.5 GHz Band but effectively killed the (unlicensed) 5.4Ghz band for last mile connectivity and gave it to Boeing for space-based radar. The 90MHz desired would be about the same size as that used by 802.11b/g (85mhz) — but wouldn’t be cheap if it were auctioned off as licensed frequencies.
BT, France Telecom, Qwest, Reliance Telecom and XO have joined the WiMax Forum, which now has 98 members. Since unlicensed spectrum is cheaper, wireless operators tend to use the only unlicensed band that’s available and can be used — the 100Mhz between 5.725-5.825. San Antonio-based SBC, a big supporter of WiFi Hotspots, could use some to backhaul.
CableZones and telephone companies may (effectively) shut out competition in the narrow 5.725-5.825 GHz unlicensed band using pole-mounted antennas every 1/2 mile or so.
Shaw Communications has tapped RemotePipes Inc. to provide worldwide mobile Internet services for Shaw Internet customers throughout Western Canada. See “the revolution” at NCTA 2004 next week.
CNET has a lengthy interview with attorney Jim Baller on municipal broadband projects in the U.S. Karl Bode’s interview last year with Baller give good insights into the legal and policy issues surrounding municipal broadband projects in the U.S.
That would be Qwest’s and SBC’s worst nightmare.
You don’t have to be a policy genius to find a simple solution — take 90 MHZ from the licensed MMDS band (at 2.6GHz), and give it to the people via unlicensed 802.16d/e. That would provide a competitive marketplace and a level playing-field with one simple pen stroke. That would deliver a practical range of 3 miles (mobile) and 30 miles (fixed).
That would insure competition — 100 mbps on every block.
The Creative Commons encourages artists to share and distribute their work for free. That could be the key to a multibillion-dollar industry. Same with The Cloud. It’s the Age of Steam.
[...] It was the Bush administration, as I recall, who promised 90Mhz for wireless broadband for all. Then auctioned it off to the cellular companies. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » Satellite Tax in Budget on February 5th, 2007