3G in the US: Studies Find Scant Availability of Spectrum for Wireless Internet
All,
Here's an article on the proposal that Bill Clinton made last October to free up spectrum for the 3G rollout in the US. Not surprisingly, the current holders of the spectrum don't seem to want to simply give it away.
nytimes.com
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, March 30 — Three government studies released today cast doubt on a plan by President Bill Clinton to find space on the congested airwaves, a move seen as essential to the future of a new generation of hand-held wireless devices capable of browsing the Internet at high speeds.
An executive order by Mr. Clinton last October and followed by the Bush administration has called for a top-to-bottom review of the way the government and commercial interests use the spectrum as a prelude to a huge licensing auction next year for the wireless telephone companies, which say that the licenses are critical for the development of the technology.
But the studies of military, other governmental and commercial users of the airwaves concluded in effect that the spectrum had become overcrowded real estate with little room for coexistence between the current tenants who refuse to give up space to the competing claims of outsiders.
The studies by the Federal Communications Commission, the Commerce Department and the Pentagon, drew no policy conclusions as to which license holders should be forced to move or who should bear the high costs of such relocation. But they describe billions of dollars in potential costs and disruptions associated with those moves on top of significant technical hardships for the current owners of licenses and national security problems for the military.
The F.C.C. report, for instance, concluded that there was "no readily identifiable alternate frequency band that could accommodate a substantial relocation" of the users of the bands it had studied. The Pentagon, meanwhile, concluded that it would be unable to vacate the frequencies it has held "until well beyond the time lines established" by the Clinton directive, and that policy makers should look toward commercial users to find new sources of spectrum.
The review ordered by Mr. Clinton has prompted a fierce political and lobbying battle between the wireless telephone companies, which hunger for more licenses, and current license holders. They include the military, religious and educational broadcasters, and companies like WorldCom and Sprint that are in the process of developing high-speed Internet services to homes. Some of the world's largest telecommunications equipment makers, including Motorola, Cisco Systems and Ericsson have also joined the lobbying fray, staking positions depending upon where they see their future markets.
But taken together, the voluminous reports paint a picture that will make it difficult for the nation's leading wireless telephone companies to prevail in the battle over bandwidth now taking place in Washington. The companies say the licenses are crucial to the roll-out of the so-called third-generation hand-held technology capable of cruising the Internet at high speeds.
"Based on these studies and what I hear in the political debate, there's significant doubt that there will be spectrum available for an auction by 2002," said Blair Levin, a former top F.C.C. official who is now an analyst at Legg Mason. "The reports point to the problems, they don't point to a solution. It's a real political problem."
Michael K. Powell, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has signalled his frustration. While calling for a cohesive national policy on the management of the spectrum, he has also noted that the ultimate decisions about where to find new sources of spectrum, and in particular whether any licenses may be available from the military are "decisions with people above my pay grade."
The Bush administration, further complicating the political equation, has moved slowly to fill vacancies at the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Commerce Department.
At a news briefing this morning, officials from the Commerce and Defense Departments sat uncomfortably together as a rear admiral overseeing communications strategy for the military explained why it would be too costly and too expensive to move out of its space any time in the next decade or longer. Pentagon officials have said policy makers should look to commercial users of the spectrum to find new space for the high- speed Internet.
Officials in the cellular telephone industry said today that they were not surprised by the findings of the report and that they still hoped a deal would be reached that would find them new spectrum.
"It sounds to me as though the Department of Defense has declared war on churches and educational services," said Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the wireless industry's main trade group. "I still continue to believe that because this is just an interim report there are ways that creative people can find spectrum." |
