A broad group of 29 executives at high-tech companies and public interest groups sent all members of Congress a letter asking for their support in opening broadcast “white spaces” for use in offering wireless broadband. Signers included companies like Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel, and public interest groups from the New America Foundation to the Consumer Federation of America. Supporters said they wanted to make clear to Congress before their upcoming recess the extent of support for opening white spaces.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
Efforts to gather broadband deployment data are falling short, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) told the FCC, urging the commission to seek more detailed data. Inadequate data can spawn bad policy, the group said. Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America and Free Press agreed on the need for reform, with the FCC’s ZIP code-based approach coming in for heavy fire. Commenters took shots at Form 477, the commission’s main tool for data collection. Filings came as part of a broad FCC rulemaking also examining net neutrality requirements (CD June 18 p2).
Sprint Nextel easily will exceed 2.5 GHz buildout requirements set by the FCC as a condition of the companies’ 2005 merger, Sprint CTO Barry West said Thurs. WiMAX’s growing popularity will make devices that send and receive data wirelessly as ubiquitous as today’s cellphones, West told us. “The FCC wanted something they could put in [the merger order] that helped justify the merger… to the public at large. This was an easy give for us,” West said: “We don’t have to build out until 2009 and we don’t have to build out anything near the footprint that we're planning to build.”
FCC Comr. Adelstein is concerned about the pace of 800 MHz rebanding, as Sprint Nextel makes deals with public safety and other licensees in the band. The FCC also seems to be making little progress on roaming, a major issue for rural wireless carriers, Adelstein said Wed after a speech to the Wireless Communications Assn.
The wireless industry is girding for a fight on a DoJ bid to force wireless carriers to provide far more material on data transmissions targeted by law enforcement surveillance. In May, DoJ asked the FCC to launch a rulemaking under which carriers would have to provide significantly more data and certify that the information is reliable (CD May 18 p4).
The Supreme Court asked the solicitor general for the federal govt.’s views on Sprint Nextel v. NASUCA. That could be good news for carriers that hope to see the 11th U.S. Appeals Court, Atlanta, truth-in-billing (TIB) decision overturned. The high court often listens to views of the solicitor when considering whether to hear a case. The fight pits wireless carriers and the FCC against NASUCA and NARUC.
Qualcomm said it will join wireless carriers in asking the U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit, to stay an International Trade Commission order banning import of new wireless handsets with Qualcomm chips held to infringe a Broadcom patent. Qualcomm also will ask President Bush to veto the decision, the company said. CTIA blasted the move as bad for consumers, saying it will slow 3G network rollouts. COMCARE and the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials said the order will hurt efforts to make 911 more accurate. ITC in a “split-the-baby decision” Thurs. said the ban will apply to future handset models (CD June 8 p8), but not those already being imported.
The International Trade Commission Thurs. voted to bar the importation of Qualcomm chipsets and circuit board modules or carriers containing them, on grounds that they infringe Broadcom patents. But in a partial win for Qualcomm and U.S. carriers concerned about the effect on the rollout of 3G networks, the ITC said it will keep allowing devices based on models imported into the U.S. through Thurs. “The Commission found that an order excluding all downstream products would impose great burdens on third parties, given the limited availability of alternative downstream products not containing the infringing chips,” the ITC said: “The Commission determined that barring importation of downstream products, with an exemption for certain previously imported models, will substantially reduce the burdens imposed on third parties while affording meaningful relief to the patent holder.” An ITC judge last year sided with Broadcom and recommended an outright ban. In March, the ITC held an unusual 2-day hearing to take testimony on a remedy. Public safety groups and wireless industry players testified in Qualcomm’s behalf, citing harms of a ban. During a panel discussion Thurs. at the Broadband Summit, Kathleen Ham, managing dir. of regulatory affairs for T-Mobile, said a ban would have been very bad for carriers, since much of their equipment contains Qualcomm chips. “We're a little behind in terms of launching UMTS,” she said: “To do that, we need handsets. We're watching this case very closely.” Said Stifel Nicolaus: “Our preliminary assessment is that this is bad news for Qualcomm and its wireless carrier customers, because they revise and turn over their handset models rapidly.”
FCC Comr. McDowell, who has now been on the Commission over a year, said Thurs. he expects to participate on almost all items that come before the agency in the future. McDowell has had to abstain on many wireline issues because of his previous longtime job as lobbyist for CompTel. McDowell couldn’t participate last year in the AT&T-BellSouth merger, forcing Chmn. Martin into a deal with the Commission’s 2 Democrats.
The FCC refused to change significantly 2-year-old rules to open new spectrum in the 3650-3700 MHz band to wireless broadband, using a new light regulatory hand. The decision was a loss for the WiMAX Forum, Intel, Alvarion, the Wireless Communications Assn. and other high tech players that wanted at least some of the 50 MHz offered on a licensed basis, most likely for WiMAX.