FCC

Pastor Joel Osteen joins white spaces debate

Sue Marek — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:23:44 -0400

Joel Osteen, the pastor of Lakewood Church in Texas, who's weekly service attracts 40,000 people and a television audience of more than 7 million, has joined the white space debate and notified the FCC that he is concerned about the possibility that unlicensed white space devices may interfere with wireless systems, particularly wireless microphones.

In a letter to the FCC, Osteen said that his church services could not operate without wireless microphone technology, which allows pastors and musicians to interact more closely with members of the congregation. Osteen asks that the FCC protect wireless microphones by not authorizing unlicensed wireless devices that may cause interference.

The FCC is conducting tests of prototype devices that access unused television airwaves, called "white spaces," to see if they will interfere with television broadcasts. Companies such as Google and Microsoft want to use this spectrum to develop new mobile communications devices. However, the initiative has raised the ire of the National Association of Broadcasters, which argues that "white space" devices may interfere with existing television broadcasts.

For more:
- see a copy of Osteen's letter to the FCC

Related articles:
Professional sports leagues concerned about white space spectrum
Companies step up push to license white-space spectrum

Would You Bid on This Spectrum?

Andrew M. Seybold — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:39:38 -0400

You have decided to bid on 10 MHz (5X5) of the 700 MHz spectrum. For $5 million a year, you can gain another 12 MHz (6X6) of adjacent spectrum. The only caveat is that the first responder community will have priority on this additional spectrum. On the other hand, the first responders will be paying customers.

To win this spectrum, you have to take part in one, two, or three auctions at the same time. You can bid on the entire block as a single license (reserve price is $750 million) and if you win, you get to determine the technology you will use on the spectrum.

You can also bid in two other auctions. The first regional auction for 58 licenses is for those who will use LTE (Long Term Evolution) and the second regional auction for 58 licenses is for those who will use WiMAX. If enough regional licenses are bid on at auction, the FCC will go with regional licenses for either LTE or WiMAX, depending on which one has the greatest numbers.

However, if a bid for the nationwide license meets or exceeds the $750 million reserve price, that bidder wins the single nationwide license. The winning bidder must agree to build out a combination public/private system with priority use for the first responder community and has 15 years to build it out to cover 95 percent to 98 percent of the total population, and to pay the Public Safety Spectrum Trust $5 million a year for using its spectrum when it is available.

If you have been following this debacle, you know that some agencies including the NYPD have stated they have no interest in using this system once it is built, so the winning bidder will have a full 24 MHz of spectrum in New York City and anywhere else first responders opt out.

The public safety community will not have a fully interoperable broadband network on 700 MHz that covers most of the nation anytime soon. With up to 15 years to build the system out to the 95 percent to 98 percent requirements, the network operator can cherry pick and build out only cities where there is a demand for wireless broadband services then fill in as necessary when the deadline draws near.

The FCC's Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is a 212 page document and in it are great ideas for high-speed data, voice and video. Also buried in the document is a table on page 170 that states the various data rates the FCC believes are required: 20-384 Kbps for indoor video and 32-384 Kbps for outdoor video. All of the data speeds cited in this table were exceeded long ago by the current 2.5G and 3G wireless broadband networks. Who knows what the broadband data speeds and capacity of this type of network will be 15 years from now?

On page 188 there is a chart showing the FCC's "guess" of the associated relocation costs by region (click here to see the chart). Yes, once you own the spectrum you have to pay to relocate the public safety systems already using the spectrum for voice operations. The total cost of this reallocation is estimated at just under $27 million and appears to be a real guess.

Another issue I have is that "first responders" are so narrowly defined as to preclude priority access for highway departments that manage the roads during evacuations, power companies that turn power off so emergency workers can work safely as well as many other secondary responders.

There are all kinds of buried items in this document and there is only a 30-day window for comments. The FCC hopes to complete a Report and Order before the end of the year so the spectrum can go back out to bid in the spring. However, I believe that once the administration changes in January the FCC will change. Who knows, there might even be some logic applied to the sharing of this spectrum.

In its haste to complete a new Report and Order, I believe the FCC is coming up with rules that are so convoluted that the result will be yet another failed attempt to auction this spectrum so work can begin on the network that is needed by the first responders. I hope the next version of the FCC takes a little more time and uses a little more common sense before putting this spectrum back on the block.

Andrew Seybold is an authority on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility. A respected analyst, consultant, commentator, author and active participant in industry trade organizations, his views have influenced strategies and shaped initiatives for telecom, mobile computing and wireless industry leaders worldwide. www.andrewseybold.com.

Verizon says Alltel deal on track for end of year

Jim Barthold — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:03:04 -0400

It would be a non-news news story to say that Verizon is on track to spend $28.1 billion to acquire Alltel by the end of the year if it weren't for a tanking economy and a less-than-sureshot regulatory environment. That painful combination makes the carrier's announcement that it's going ahead with the deal newsworthy. Verizon spokeswoman Robin Nicol says the deal remains on schedule.

Verizon Wireless announced the deal during a somewhat friendlier economic climate in June and has been under an analytical microscope as financial markets worsened and the size of the deal became riskier.

When closed--both financially and via federal regulatory approval--the acquisition would make Verizon the nation's largest wireless carrier. When the deal was announced, analysts speculated about its impact on Sprint Nextel, which will drop to a distant third and AT&T, which might need to do some acquiring of its own to keep pace. The market conditions, and Verizon Wireless' apparently bold intent to plow ahead, has quelled that speculation--at least as much as that type of speculation is ever quelled.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
Verizon CEO predicts layoffs for Alltel employees
Leap and others asks FCC to deny Verizon/Alltel merger

FCC to review wireless mergers by year-end

Sue Marek — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:16:46 -0400

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said yesterday that the agency will try to finish its review of Verizon's pending acquisition of Alltel as well as Sprint Nextel's joint venture with Clearwire by year-end.

This is good news for all parties involved since they have been preparing for a year-end close and telling investors that things are on track. Just last month Clearwire CFO John Butler told investors that things were on track for a fourth-quarter close and that buildout of its first four mobile WiMAX markets was moving smoothly.

Meanwhile, Verizon reportedly is preparing for the finalization of the Alltel deal and has retained Morgan Stanley to sell the overlapping assets it will have in 85 cellular markets as a result of its proposed acquisition. Morgan Stanley has reportedly valued the assets, which are spread throughout the U.S., to be between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Related articles:
Clearwire says Sprint deal will close soon
Verizon hires Morgan Stanley to divest overlapping markets

Google's Page, allies express support for white space

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:49:42 -0400

Google co-founder Larry Page yesterday said 16,000 people have signed a Google-sponsored petition in support of using unlicensed white-space spectrum for broadband wireless. Page was speaking at an event sponsored by the Wireless Innovation Alliance in Washington, D.C., that attracted a wide range of attendees, including representatives from Microsoft and Motorola.

In August, the search giant launched a web site called, www.freetheairwaves.com, on which visitors could sign a petition urging the FCC to open up unused TV airwaves for super WiFi-like services Google calls WiFi 2.0. The intention of the site was to get the common person involved in the debate by featuring YouTube videos that explain white space.

White space is the unused slivers of spectrum in the 700 MHz band between spectrum used by broadcast TV stations. Google advocates using those slices of spectrum to bring broadband wireless access to rural areas of the United States.

Some U.S. wireless carriers oppose the use of white space in an unlicensed manner, with Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA arguing it should be licensed and used for backhaul. The National Association of Broadcasters also opposes the idea, and says unlicensed devices will produce too much interference, and that tests on equipment to determine whether or not there would be interference have failed.

The FCC has yet to declare specific regulations for white-space, and it is still unclear whether a decision will be announced before the November elections.

Page also repeatedly brought up the statistic that there currently are 1 billion devices worldwide using WiFi technology on a 2.4 GHz spectrum; and said he was "amazed we're in the state of the debate we are in," calling it a "no brainer" to increase the "tiny slice" of spectrum WiFi technology currently operates on. "Having a greater radius of signal that you can provide cheaply is a huge economic advantage to the U.S. and the world," he said.

Mark Berejka, senior director for technology policy and strategy at Microsoft, took aim at the U.S. wireless industry, and said its claims about white space should be probed more deeply. Like a politician would on the stump, he told a story about a small rural wireless ISP that could not use point-to-point microwave spectrum for backhaul for Internet traffic, and was being "extorted" by its competitor for backhaul support.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., appeared unannounced to deliver an impassioned plea to make white space available. "If we can go to the Moon, as they say, we can do white space," he said.

Related articles:
Google's Page pushes white-space agenda
Google asks FCC to ignore Sprint, T-Mobile
Google steps up white-space lobbying efforts with new web site

AWS-3 spectrum debate festers

Sue Marek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:49:43 -0400

The debate over whether the FCC should forge ahead with its plans to create a 25-megahertz swath of spectrum, known as AWS-3, is still festering. Proponent M2Z Networks issued a press release today saying that the FCC's interference testing has confirmed that any proposed wireless broadband service in this spectrum would not cause interference with company's offering service on adjacent bands.

The FCC has said that this AWS-3 spectrum would support a nationwide license and the agency would require the licensee to dedicate 25 percent of its network capacity to free broadband service, install a network-based Internet filtering system to block pornography and allow open access to third-party devices and applications. M2Z Networks, of course, has been a proponent of this plan. And T-Mobile USA, which is deploying its UMTS service in the AWS spectrum, is a vocal opponent.

M2Z says that the recent testing conducted by the FCC in Seattle demonstrated that AWS-3 handsets could operate safely at the commission's standard power limit of +33 dBm. And that the testing validated previous tests which found that TDD and FDD could coexist using an out-of-band emission limit of 49+ 10 log (P).

Of course, the industry is still awaiting final word from the FCC regarding this testing. So far, it hasn't weighed in with any results leaving parties on both sides of the debate to make their own interpretations.

For more:
- see this press release

Related articles:
M2Z asks FCC to reject more AWS-3 interference tests
T-Mobile takes M2Z to task over AWS-3 auction arguments

Novatel gets FCC OK for tiny USB modem

Jim Barthold — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:17:58 -0400

Proving once again that size really does matter--especially when you're lugging around a laptop and don't want to add an extra ounce if you can avoid it--Novatel Wireless is touting the fact that it's received FCC approval for a wireless data micro modem that it calls the "world's smallest USB modem."

The device is optimized to provide high-speed Internet connectivity for any North American EVDO Rev. A network-compatible device with a USB port. The primary target is probably laptops, but the company also points to desktops (where size is not a big consideration), tablet PCs and PDAs.

With integrated file storage capabilities via MicroSD, the units should be available in the fourth quarter through Novatel's tier one operator customers. For those who tend to get lost, the units will also include onboard GPS capabilities.

For more
- see this article

Related:
Global Mobile Broadband subscribers hit 50 million. Article
Novatel releases HSPA modems, software to boost data speed. Article

Skype official calls out carriers on "open" networks

Phil Goldstein — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:26:55 -0400

In a strongly-worded letter to the FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Skype official complained that the major U.S. wireless carriers were all talk when it came to "open" networks, and that if the Commission wanted to live up to its stated goal of making open networks more accessible, it would affirm that this policy covers wireless networks.

Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director of government and regulatory affairs for North America, said that last week at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment conference in San Francisco, the major U.S. carriers paid lip service to the idea of open networks, but strongly cautioned that too much choice would lead to chaos, and damage the viability of their business model.

Libertelli stated that, "The attitude of the wireless carriers was perhaps best summed up in Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse's recent comment: 'The big Internet can be daunting... There can be too much choice.' This stands in stark contrast to the Commission's wise policies designed to promote as much consumer choice as possible."

He said Skype was mindful of the challenges wireless carriers faced in moving to an open network. But he also said it was not enough to simply talk about open networks.

"Consumer choice, competition and free markets, not carriers acting to block competition, should win the day in wireless--now, not later," he said. "If the Commission believed that the transition to more open networks was going to proceed quickly, statements out of CTIA's convention suggest just the opposite."

"Openness" was a major theme of the conference in San Francisco, and the first keynote session included Sprint Nextel's Hesse as well T-Mobile USA's CEO Robert Dotson and Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam speaking about what "open" meant to their companies.

For more:
- see the letter

Related Articles:
CTIA: Carriers talk "open" network but no clear definition
What is open anyway?

Florida school leases spectrum to Clearwire

Jim Barthold — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:29:10 -0400

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) officials have FCC approval to lease 24 of 26 unused broadband channels in its EBS spectrum to Clearwire for up to $173 million for the next 10 years. FAU has held the spectrum licenses since the 1980s. Originally the channels were used for distance learning but the Internet put the kibosh on that and made the airwaves more valuable to broadband wireless ISPs such as Clearwire.

The lease plan will include an upfront payment of at least $8.6 million plus $3.5 million a year for the next five years. If FAU is allowed to lease its other two channels, it would get about $4.3 million in services and equipment.

The school needs the money because of lower than projected property tax revenues so it put out bids last year and got three proposals. Clearwire, of course, needs the spectrum as part of its pending nationwide launch of mobile WiMAX.

For more:
- see this article

Related:
Comcast exec sees end of the year Clearwire close. Article

AT&T deploys A-GPS throughout network

Sue Marek — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:59:01 -0400

AT&T deployed assisted GPS technology throughout its network, paving the way for more enhanced location-based services. The carrier, which initially deployed a cell-site triangulation technology to meet the 2006 FCC E-911 requirements, has now added GPS to its technology portfolio.

AT&T also announced it will launch two new navigation applications in the coming weeks, MapQuest Navigator and AAA Mobile navigator. In addition, the operator hinted that it would soon be expanding into other LBS categories including location-enabled social networking and a family-oriented service along with privacy controls.

For more:
- see this press release

Related article:
AT&T's Collins talks LBS, music and MediaFLO