FCC Approves Two-Way MDS & ITFS Services
September 21, 1998
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A, Newsbytes via NewsEdge
Corporation : Opening up possibilities for
competitivelocal phone service and high-speed Internet
access in both urban and rural areas, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has given Multipoint
Distribution Service (MDS) and Instructional Television
Fixed Service (ITFS) operators the green light to launch
two-way voice, data, and video services.
MDS, sometimes called wireless cable, has to date
provided one-way video transmission. ITFS licensees are
usually educational institutions that rely on the
technology for distance learning. Under the new rules,
the licensees will be able to apply to offer not only
two-way video services, which could include
videoconferencing, but local telephone service and
broadband Internet access.
Internet access over these networks, which use
six-megahertz (MHz) in the 2.1 gigahertz (GHz) and
2.5-GHz bands, could be 100 times as fast as today's
56K-bit- per-second modems can provide, FCC
spokesman Dave Roberts told Newsbytes.
Rob McConnell, a spokesman for the Wireless
Communications Association International, which
proposed the rule changes, told Newsbytes that the
ruling will also clear the way for licensees to compete
with established local telephone companies. Although
the MDS and ITFS services are wireless, they are not
meant for mobile use, so these licensees would be
competing with conventional wireline carriers, not the
cellular and Personal Communications Services (PCS)
companies.
Unlike some competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs)
that rely on wires and are reluctant to invest in wiring
rural areas, MDS and ITFS licensees will be well placed to
offer service to rural areas, McConnell said. He added
that while Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS)
services use frequencies that are vulnerable to
interference from rain, the lower-frequency MDS and
ITFS services should handle bad weather well. "Rural
America can be served well by this technology,"
McConnell said.
ITFS and MDS licensees will have to apply to the FCC to
launch new two-way services, Roberts said. McConnell
said the first services can probably be expected to arrive
within a year.
FCC materials can be found online at fcc.gov
.
Reported By Newsbytes News Network:
newsbytes.com
(19980917/Press Contact: Rosemary Kimball, FCC,
202-418-0500; Patrick McConnell, Wireless
Communications Association International,
941-644-6896/WIRES TELECOM/)
<<Newsbytes -- 09-17-98>>
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