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To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (11941)	9/28/2001 3:30:31 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Hi rob, Thanks for your views of the 3G hysteria. 3G is certainly not playing out the way that most would have expected. That is an interesting development with regard to the MMDS spectrum. One thing I learned a while back is that there is a world of difference between "mobile" and "portable". The former, if I have my facts right, is referring to comms units capable of a bitrate at vehicular speeds, with lots of cell handoffs. "Portable", OTOH, refers to a user walking around an office, living room, park, etc. where there is no handoff, much less transmission overhead and generally much greater available bitrates. The gotcha in all this for the underinformed retail investor is the breathless use of "portable" in various press releases to indicate great leaps forward in certain technologies, when in fact the applicability of such a capability is quite limited and not at all what the patzer has in mind when he reads about these "advances". Sounds like WCOM and FON have done some nice fancy footwork for themselves with the MMDS re-licensing. Reminds me a bit of Craig McCaw's purchase years ago of a slice of the spectrum at an FCC auction that the DoD eventually traded at a bargain rate with McCaw for the PCS's 1.9Ghz spectrum. -Ray

To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (11941)	10/5/2001 7:42:11 AM
From: D. K. G.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12823

Malaysia Is Unlikely to Use Auction To Allot Its 3G Wireless Licenses By CONNIE LING Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Malaysia is unlikely to use an auction to allocate third-generation wireless licenses, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said, due to the high cost to operators the process may entail, which hurts the broader telecommunications sector. The comments came as other markets in Asia debate how to issue 3G licenses following canceled auctions in Hong Kong and Singapore this year due to lack of interest among mobile operators. Citing examples in Europe where operators paid billions of dollars for licenses that ultimately pulled them into massive debt, Dr. Mahathir said that receiving a large amount of revenue from 3G spectrum licenses is no longer a priority for the Malaysian government. "The government ... is not likely to auction the licenses," he told a business conference in Kuala Lumpur. "Perhaps the government will choose a company with the capacity [to operate a 3G network] and give it to that company at a cost which will be profitable to them," said Dr. Mahathir, about handing out a 3G license. The prime minister's view that Malaysia likely won't auction licenses falls in line with a consensus among government officials and industry experts, which have long maintained that a beauty contest, whereby regulators pick operators, is more suitable for the country. It also highlights the larger debate in the rest of Asia over how 3G licenses should be awarded. Hong Kong and Singapore, two of the most-developed wireless markets in Asia, both aborted their 3G auctions earlier this year after attracting only the same number of bidders as licenses on the block. Taiwan is expected to hold a 3G license auction toward the end of the year, though telecom operators there don't believe the licenses will fetch the kind of high prices seen in Europe last year. Unlike parts of Asia where wireless data services are already widely used, the Malaysian market is still largely driven by voice calls, making 3G a lower priority for network operators, say analysts. The Malaysian government had said it would complete the guidelines for awarding 3G licenses by the end of 2001 or early next year. The government regulator had proposed awarding two 3G networks in the country, with the costs shared among the five existing telecom operators. Yet because of the grim global economic outlook and the hefty investment involved in building the next-generation network, it might be years before a 3G network is up and running. "The expectation [within the government] is that it won't happen before 2004," said a Malaysia-based telecom analyst who declined to be named. "But I think that's being optimistic," he said, because of the uncertainty surrounding the business model of 3G services. Write to Connie Ling at connie.ling@awsj.com interactive.wsj.com

To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (11941)	10/8/2001 9:54:40 AM
From: John F Beule	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Government to find airwaves for wireless By Reuters October 5, 2001, 4:15 p.m. PT WASHINGTON--The Bush administration on Friday unveiled a new plan to find more airwaves to sell to wireless companies hungry for more so they can launch a new generation of advanced mobile services. Several government agencies plan to assess the usefulness of two bands of spectrum for commercial services and possible timelines in which the bands could be made available, according to a statement by the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The assessment will not include a band that is largely used by the Defense Department for a variety of military operations, the agency said. Analysts have said that band, 1755-1850 megahertz (Mhz), is likely off the table because the military is ratcheting up operations for a possible war. "The assessment will address possible sharing between incumbents and new 3G users," NTIA said. "The assessment will also attempt to identify alternate, replacement spectrum bands for displaced federal and private sector systems." The new bands under consideration include 1710-1770 Mhz and 2110-2170 Mhz. The agencies involved in the study, NTIA, the Federal Communications Commission, the Defense Department and other executive branch offices, plan to complete the study in late spring 2002. Wireless companies like Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, want more spectrum to launch so-called third-generation (3G) mobile services such as high-speed Internet service. "We think it's a positive development," said Steve Berry, senior vice president for regulatory affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. "It doesn't take any spectrum off the table." The Clinton administration had laid out a timetable for identifying spectrum for 3G by July 2001 and current law requires the sale of some of the airwaves under consideration by Sept. 30, 2002, though Congress could extend that deadline. Story Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.