Howard Buskirk

Several companies and associations used a call by the FCC for comments on broadband wireless issues to plead for more spectrum for emerging technologies. Most commenters also stressed that the FCC must give companies flexibility in using spectrum while providing more certain rules of the road.

The FCC is strongly considering delaying an order on ITFS spectrum rules due at the Commission next week, according to officials at the Wireless Communications Assn. conference in Washington Wed. The FCC has faced a firestorm of protests the past week, since word broke an order was steaming forward that would take 18 MHz of spectrum away from ITFS as part of a rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation. The Commission must decide today (Thurs.) whether the order will be on the sunshine agenda for the June 10 Commission meeting.

Wireless entrepreneur Craig McCaw announced launch of a broadband wireless provider using ITFS band spectrum. McCaw told the Wireless Communications Assn. conference in Washington Wed. the service is now “on the air” in Jacksonville, Fla., and St. Cloud, Minn., offering wireless broadband. The company, backed by McCaw and other investors, is testing in Mexico City and Yellow Knife in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. rejected claims by AT&T that the FCC should have launched a proceeding before allowing Sec. 272 safeguards to sunset with respect to Verizon’s long distance operations in N.Y. The decision was important to the extent that the N.Y. case was the first to be addressed in federal court. If the court had ruled otherwise the decision could have been very disruptive for Verizon and other Bells, officials said. The question in the case was straightforward: Under the Act, when a Bell receives permission to offer long distance services under Sec. 271 for 3 years long distance and local services must be separate, including separate offices and service trucks. But after 3 years, unless FCC deems otherwise, that requirement ends. In the N.Y. case the requirement ended and AT&T sued. Judges appeared skeptical of AT&T’s arguments in April (CD April 16 p7), so the decision wasn’t a surprise. “In this action, petitioner AT&T Corp. contends that the FCC acted arbitrarily and violated its duty of reasoned decision-making when it issued a public notice stating that the Sec. 272 safeguards sunset for Verizon’s operations in New York ‘by operation of law,'” the court said in an opinion issued Tues.: “AT&T argues that the record here demonstrates that Verizon retains significant market power, justifying the need for continued application of the Sec. 272 safeguards in New York. Thus, according to AT&T, the FCC was obliged to provide a reasoned explanation for its failure. We reject these claims.”

The Ad Hoc MMDS Licensee Consortium (AMLC), contradicting Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) statements, told the FCC some companies would be very supportive of a carve-out creating a new 12 MHz band of spectrum -- taken in part from the ITFS band -- to be sold at auction for wireless broadband and other advanced services.

The high-profile investment of wireless pioneer Craig McCaw in ITFS spectrum has raised the stakes as the FCC considers a proposal to revise the rules for ITFS/MDS spectrum. McCaw is expected to have more to say about his plans and the business he’s building in a speech Wed. at the Wireless Communications Assn. meeting in Washington. McCaw met with FCC Chmn. Powell in April to talk about his views on ITFS. He’s viewed as being a force behind a pending FCC proposal to take 6 MHz from ITFS, combine it with another 6 MHz, and offer the spectrum for sale through auction for advanced services.

The U.S. will find itself defending its stance on ultra- wideband against much of the rest of the world when the 3rd ITU-R Task Group International Meeting on UWB takes place in Boston starting June 9. A key U.S. objective will be ensuring others don’t subject UWB to regulation or get it on the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference agenda. The Boston meeting for the first time is expected to receive substantial input from UWB promoters on the technology’s benefits.

FCC work on a National Programmatic Agreement (NPA)that would streamline permitting new and replacement wireless phone towers is moving more slowly than expected, with a final agreement unlikely for several more months. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed comments at the FCC Tues. that set off alarm bells among wireless carriers who have been closely monitoring the negotiations.

The FCC has yet to reach a decision on whether Nextel will get the spectrum at 1.9 GHz it covets, or at 2.1 GHz, as part of a 800 MHz rebanding plan with debate continuing within the Commission, Nextel Pres. Timothy Donahue told shareholders Thurs. Donahue repeated, as he had at a Lehman Bros. investment conference earlier this week, that Nextel wouldn’t accept anything but 1.9 GHz spectrum.

Leading education groups are ramping up pressure on the FCC to back away from a plan to take 18 MHz away from ITFS as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation (CD May 26 p4). Education groups met with Comr. Abernathy Wed. and hope for meetings with the other Commissioners by June 3, when the Commission has to decide whether to put an ITFS order on the June 10 meeting agenda.