International Implications of AWS 3 Proposal Said to Raise New Questions
An FCC proposal for a free broadband service through the advanced wireless services 3 auction would isolate the United States from the rest of the world, 3G Americas said in a filing at the FCC. Officials with the group, led by President Chris Pearson, met with Commissioners Michael Copps, Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate this week to make their case. They also met with the wireless advisor to Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
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“This unilateral allocation, unmatched elsewhere, will in effect make the U.S. a spectrum island, to the detriment of U.S. consumers,” 3G America said. “Without a global allocation, wireless equipment vendors cannot realize the same economies of scale achievable with a global market.” The Inter-American Committee on Telecommunications (CITEL) views the 2110-2170 MHz band, paired with 1710-1770 MHz, as a major band for advanced wireless services, the group said.
3G Americas said most governments in the Americas region regard the U.S. as a leader on spectrum policy. “Historically, the U.S. spectrum auctions have only faltered when the Commission imposed conditions designed to meet other social policy objectives, such as the PCS 1900 MHz C Block auction in 1996 or more recently the 700 MHz auction D Block in 2008,” the group said. It said U.S. spectrum policy is respected in part “because of its insistence on protecting incumbent licensees, which provides those considering bidding in future auctions critical predictability.”
Copps, Tate and McDowell all have expressed some reservations about the AWS 3 proposal, according to industry sources. For example, Tate has had some questions about the property rights issues raised. Copps is concerned about the risks faced by small AWS 1 licensees from AWS 3 interference. An agency source said whether the FCC will approve the proposal is unclear. “I don’t think anyone is going to firm up their mind until they get closer to the date” when a decision must be made, the source said.
Meanwhile, John Muleta, CEO of M2Z, fired back at a recent letter by CTIA which attacked both the AWS 3 proposal and M2Z’s advocacy of the plan (CD Jan 26 p2). CTIA “continues to badger the FCC to abandon the public interest and the expansion of communication services to consumers in favor of corporate and industrial welfare for a few of the world’s most profitable monopoly telecommunications carriers,” Muleta said. He said the letter does not mention the interests of the public “the standard by which Congress requires the FCC to make its decision as it considers various ways of expanding the availability of communications services to American consumers.”