NASHVILLE -- The FCC’s just-ended AWS auction and the upcoming 700 MHz auction guarantee a bright future for the tower industry, the CEOs of the 4 major companies agreed Wed. in a keynote panel at the PCIA conference. The CEOs also agreed that tower siting and wireless carrier consolidation present question marks, but strong growth should continue for several years. The AWS auction ended Mon. with $13.7 billion in bids.
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
Shared Spectrum Co. said Mon. tests conducted at Fort A.P. Hill in Va. demonstrated that other radios can share military frequencies without causing harmful interference to the military systems, using a complex version of dynamic frequency sharing. The tests were conducted under the neXtGeneration Communications (XG) program financed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). More tests are planned over the next year.
A growing number of small carriers are warning the FCC they're having trouble finding hearing aid compatible handsets required by the agency, and will miss a deadline. The Commission has ordered carriers to offer at least 2 compliant handsets in stores by today (Mon). A carrier that offers both CDMA and GSM service needs 2 handsets available for each.
Sun. marked 6 months since an FCC order creating the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau. The FCC seems close to opening the bureau, probably with a chief hired from outside the Commission staff. An FCC official said Fri. the Commission received approval from House appropriators in late Aug. to open the bureau and from Senate appropriators last week. The Commission has already worked out any union issues and a formal opening is likely this month, the source said. Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.) asked Chmn. Martin for an update on the bureau in written questions after his Commerce Committee confirmation hearing last week. “What is the status of that bureau and will that bureau be charged with addressing all or some of the ongoing 911 issues at the FCC, or will some issues remain in existing bureaus?” Nelson asked. A regulatory lawyer said creating the bureau has taken longer than expected. “But I don’t know what all they had to go through with the union and the Hill,” the source said: “It may be that’s the best they can do because of factors that aren’t under their control.” When the FCC voted to approve the bureau, officials indicated start-up would likely take about as long as the last major reorganization. That was less than 3 months.
Wireless issues appear to be getting more attention from FCC Chmn. Martin and his top advisers, perhaps the most since he became chairman 18 months ago. In recent days, the Commission has released items addressing 700 MHz spectrum and use of broadcast “white spaces.” On a UBS investor call Thurs., wireless issues were the first Martin discussed.
Industry groups this week warned of a major burden for wireless carriers, tower companies, broadband wireless providers and others, if the FAA imposes regulations requiring notice to the agency from anyone modifying a radio transmitter in 13 separate bands, including the increasingly important 2.5 GHz band.
A 3-judge panel of the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. peppered lawyers from both sides with questions Tues. in an appeal by Nuvio and other VoIP operators of the FCC’s May 2005 requirement that such companies provide subscribers 911 within 120 days.
Some industry groups are using an FCC notice of proposed rulemaking on USF contribution methodology to argue for moving to a number-based method of calculating payments -- a question the FCC never raised, NASUCA claimed. The VON Coalition, CTIA and other groups said tweaks to current methodology will fall far short of needed reform.
The FCC is looking for ways to spur greater use of 700 MHz guard bands. Sources said Mon. the proposal, released late Fri., is potentially significant because it could provide more spectrum for public safety and for carriers to offer wireless broadband. The FCC is also seeking comment on proposals for the best use of guard band licenses returned to the FCC by Nextel.
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are poised to pick up chunks of spectrum that could prove valuable to their overall portfolios, based on bidding in the AWS auction, which is entering late stages, analysts and other observers said. To a lesser extent, so too are Cingular, Leap and MetroPCS, they said. In the auction’s late stages, bids totaled $13.8 billion late Fri.