Bush Administration Pledges to Find Airwaves for Phone Industry
Washington, March 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration pledged to seek airwaves for Verizon Wireless Inc. and other mobile-phone carriers and downplayed industry fears that spectrum will remain unavailable, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said.
Evans, during a 30 minute meeting with industry lobbyists, said the administration is just starting a search for airwaves. The meeting was held a day before the department details whether frequencies used by the Defense Department for satellite, combat training and communications may be sold to phone companies.
Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless Group and other companies want the airwaves to offer advanced services that will let consumers access the Internet up to 100 times faster, get video and other features on their handsets, and use the same mobile device anywhere. The Pentagon has been reluctant to turn over the airwaves, citing a threat to national security. The industry expects the report to reflect those fears.
``Tomorrow's report is a beginning not an end. This administration is just getting started,'' Commerce spokesman Jim Dyke said Evans told lobbyists in the closed meeting. Evans is ``not confused about the importance of spectrum and its role globally'' and will work with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, the industry and Congress ``to find the solution to the problem.''
Carriers say they need more frequencies or the U.S. may fall behind countries in Asia and Europe that are gearing up to offer advanced services now. They prefer the Defense Department spectrum because many countries have set aside the same airwaves, making it easier to sell devices that can be used anywhere, lowering equipment costs.
The FCC tomorrow will issue a similar report on another set of airwaves under consideration. Those frequencies are used by the Catholic Church, public schools and companies such as WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp. for fast Internet services and television. The report is expected to point out that it would be difficult to relocate those users to other sections of the airwaves, analysts say.
Mar/29/2001 16:42 ET |
