Telephony Magazine reports the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), which is meeting in Orlando, Florida this week, heard from FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell who gave the following advice: go wireless at 700 MHz.
Warning the rural industry that it is “on a collision course with disaster” primarily due to a broken Universal Service Fund structure, McDowell said that while he and others are working to fix the USF and address other important issues such as inter-carrier compensation, competition that will pave the path to the future.
“I believe in free markets and that government should only step in where the free market fails. And in rural America, it did,” McDowell said, adding that it was right that the government stepped in and established systems such as USF.
“But we are at a crossroads. Today the system is broken,” McDowell said. “We can’t keep asking more folks to prop up a failed system.”
“I hope you will be active participants in the 700 MHz auction. America needs you to walk away as successful bidders,” McDowell said. “Don’t fear the coming changes. Adapt to them. Don’t just try to survive; be determined to prevail. You are only limited by your own self-confidence.”
The Washington Post explains that by February 2009, television broadcasters are supposed to have completed their digital transition, freeing up space in that part of the airwaves.
The spectrum is desirable for wireless communications for the same reason it worked so well for broadcasters. Signals that travel in the band can easily penetrate walls and go very long distances. A network that uses it will require fewer transmission towers.
The government’s Integrated Wireless Network is a $17 billion plan to build 37,000 disaster-proof 700 MHz radio sites across the United States over the next decade. Cyren Call wants to move an additional 30 Mhz, in the upper 700MHz band, into a “trust” shared by public service users. Commercial licensees would then share the spectrum, with fees going to the trustee to fund the police/fire network.
The High Tech DTV Coalition, backed by cellular and high tech companies like Verizon, Intel and Cisco, believe a commercial auction (planned for this fall) is better because they could “own” the spectrum outright rather some kind of “lease-back” as proposed by Cyren.
Here’s what I, as a consumer, want:
If Justice and Verizon are in bed together, leveraging a Flarion/EVDO-based system for consumers, I’d be irritated. I think an open and cost/effective system (like Mobile WiMAX) might provide a more competitive environment. Is sharing the spectrum via “trustee” a good idea? I think so. It seems more sensitive to local needs. I don’t trust the bureaucratic Feds. Their Project-25 radios are a case in point — it’s been in the works for some 15 years. Mobile WiMAX (or something like it) at 700MHz will be faster, cheaper and better (most of the time). Why not make it available. |
Related DailyWireless stories include; McCain Wants Commercial 700 MHz for Police, Oregon’s $500 Million Statewide Network, and FCC: Moving on 700MHZ Public Safety Interop.
[...] Related DailyWireless articles include; FCC to Rural Users: 700MHz is the Ticket, McCain Wants Commercial 700 MHz for Police and Oregon’s $500 Million Statewide Network. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » Senate Testimony of 700MHz Sharing on February 8th, 2007