Public Interest Groups, Advocates For Unlicensed, Get Bigger Role on CSMAC
The Obama administration is expanding public interest group representation on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, which was created under President George W. Bush to improve management of the airwaves. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld will join longtime member Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at the New America Foundation, as a public interest group member of CSMAC. Both have been strong advocates of unlicensed spectrum. Feld had sought to become a member in the past but had been turned down.
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Public safety, meanwhile, is no longer represented on CSMAC. Among the departing members is Brian Fontes, former carrier executive and current CEO of the National Emergency Number Association. Also leaving CSMAC is Gregory Rosston, a Stanford University economist and expert on spectrum auctions.
"The CSMAC will certainly be reinvigorated with these new and diverse members,” Calabrese told us Monday. “It is particularly helpful to see new spectrum policy and technical experts who are not constrained by industry ties.”
In another change, Larry Alder, director-access strategy at Google, and Mark Gibson, senior director-business development at Comsearch, were appointed co-chairmen. Both also have ties to unlicensed and spectrum sharing. Google is a strong advocate of unlicensed and Comsearch is one of the companies building a database for the TV white spaces. NTIA put a full list of the 28 members on its website (http://1.usa.gov/1k6XQ9i).
Also new to CSMAC is consultant Paul Kolodzy, who was the director of the FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force. It recommended some major changes for government spectrum policy in November 2002, calling for greater development of software-defined radio and publicizing the notion of spectrum white spaces (http://bit.ly/1rQknfP).
Carriers retain three seats on CSMAC. Carl Povelites, assistant vice president-public policy at AT&T, is returning as a member. Steve Sharkey, a senior director and engineer at T-Mobile, replaces former T-Mobile Senior Vice President Tom Sugrue, who recently retired. Sharkey has been actively involved in the working groups supporting CSMAC’s work on sharing, industry officials said. Charla Rath, vice president-wireless policy development at Verizon, is also new. Rath was an aide to former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes and she replaces Margaret Feldman, a Verizon Wireless vice president. Dish Network, increasingly active on spectrum issues, also gets a member: Mariam Sorond, vice president-technology development.
Other new members are: Kurt Schaubach, vice president of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative; Jeffrey Reed, director of Wireless @ Virginia Tech; Giulia McHenry, an associate with The Brattle Group; Robert Kubik, director-communications policy at Samsung Electronics America; Michael Chartier, director-spectrum technology at Intel; and Audrey Allison, director-frequency management services at Boeing. Allison and Sharkey are married to each other.
Calabrese said he was encouraged by the addition of Feld, Reed and Kolodzy. “CSMAC was preoccupied for perhaps too long on the ultimately successful effort to find a way to transition the federal 1755-1780 MHz band for auction and commercial use,” he said. CSMAC now needs to proceed “full bore ahead” to help implement the spectrum sharing recommendations made two years ago by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (CD July 23/12 p1), Calabrese said.
The administration needs to “maintain a balance” of different perspectives and backgrounds on advisory committees like CSMAC, said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires diverse representation, he said. “I don’t have a problem with any particular member,” May said. “But I would have a problem if I thought the composition of the committee were tilted noticeably in the direction of those firmly committed to unlicensed versus licensed spectrum. In any event, it is important to keep reminding everyone, including the agencies that create the advisory committees, that their role is simply that, to advise.” (hbuskirk@warren-news.com)