The Bush administration, after months of speculation, released a letter raising questions about the free broadband proposal circulated by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for the AWS- 3 band. The letter, by acting NTIA Administrator Meredith Baker, was sent to Rep. Michael Conoway, R-Texas. It touches on some concerns reportedly raised by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a meeting at the White House. Baker says the administration believes spectrum auctions promote investment and innovation. “Auctions without price or product mandates create a level playing field,” the letter said. “Restrictions and conditions on spectrum use, however well-intentioned, are not the most effective or efficient way to encourage development of services or to assist under served areas.”
The telecom industry will feel ripples from the Wall Street meltdown, analysts said. The Street’s crisis mean less telecom spending and investment and may put some big telecom deals in doubt, they said. Major carriers were mute on the potential impact on their business. Monday, Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch was bought. The huge American International Group was on the ropes Tuesday.
Legislation to speed adoption of electronic health records needs strong privacy and record-keeping provisions, House Ways and Means Subcommittee members said Thursday at a hearing. Chairman Pete Stark, D-Calif., said he plans soon to introduce a bill promoting adoption of a national health record system ensuring strong privacy protection for patient records. He and other subcommittee members said the House Commerce Committee bill (HR-6357) passed Wednesday by Commerce (CD July 24 p3) doesn’t offer a complete plan but is a start.
Minimizing regulation will speed advance of broadband and advanced mobile services, panelists said Wednesday at an Institute for Policy Innovation seminar. Rather than looking for ways to fill public coffers, policymakers should encourage companies to move into unserved areas, said IPI senior fellow Barry Aarons. Tax credits and other incentives are a better way to encourage broadband, Aarons said. The wireless market is growing faster than that for fixed landline services due to fewer controls, panelist Massimiliano Trovato, a fellow with Italy’s Instituto Bruno Leoni, said. But there is a trend toward placing conditions on spectrum auctions worldwide, Trovato said.
Federal agencies should get funding to hire more staff to handle relocating their systems if the government finds more federal spectrum that can be cleared for sale in future spectrum auctions, a working group of the Commerce Department’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) said. CMSAC Working Group 3 wants responsibility for spectrum clearing to be “centralized,” possibly within a single agency like NTIA. Acting Administrator Meredith Baker announced at the group’s meeting in San Jose, Calif., that NTIA is reconstituting the group, asking members to prepare a report on transition issues for the next presidential administration.
Small wireless carriers are lobbying federal lawmakers to pressure the FCC to address petitions for reconsideration filed last October calling for elimination of the in-market exclusion to the agency’s new automatic roaming rules. The campaign is bearing fruit, but FCC officials said they've heard nothing from Chairman Kevin Martin’s office about any rule change. The issue is gaining significance, sources say, given the Verizon Wireless’s proposed purchase of Alltel.
BRUSSELS -- European interest is rising in collective use of spectrum (CUS) for new wireless applications, speakers said Thursday at a European spectrum management conference. CUS is seen increasingly by regulators and major industry players as a way to spark innovation while lowering entry barriers, they said. But the approach remains controversial and faces regulatory challenges and push-back by incumbents.
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.
Tower operator SBA Communications (SAC) is expected to continue assertively adding towers, to the tune of about 700 this year, said a report from Gaffers & Company. SAC said it has bought 88 towers and built 20 in the first quarter, has acquired 40 since March 31, and has agreed to buy up to 579 more. Gaffers expects all this acquisitions to close this year, increasing SAC’s tower total 12 percent. SAC reported total revenue of $109.9 million in the first quarter, beating Gaffers’ estimate of $109.1 million. Site-leasing revenue of $89.4 million was up 16.8 percent over the year earlier period and site leasing segment operating profit of $67.3 million was up 20.4 percent, the company said. The company expects to exceed the high end of the portfolio growth goals for 2008, said SAC President Jeffrey Stoops. Longer term, SAC is encouraged by the spectrum auctions and the growth in the wireless data service being delivered by its customers, Stoops said. “We believe that both will have a positive impact on future demand for our tower space and services,” he said.
U.K. public service broadcasters are meeting their public goals, with some gaps, the Office of Communications said Thursday. An Ofcom review aims to gauge the channels’ performance, market changes, prospects for delivery of public service content, audience needs and funding models. Overall, Britons see the main public broadcast programs as being of high quality, particularly in news and information, and the BBC remains “particularly valued,” Ofcom said. But viewers want more kids’ programs and shows on the nations and regions (Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland) than they get from the five main channels, it said. The BBC probably will continue to contribute strongly to public broadcast, but for the other stations the picture could be less certain, Ofcom said. Long term, commercially-funded public broadcasters need clarity on their roles, and some channels may have delivery requirements waived, it said. Audiences want competition for the BBC and new platforms for viewing public programming, it said. Public broadcast is trying to address more needs, but has fewer resources outside the BBC to do so, it said. Preliminarily, Ofcom wants new funds found to end a decline in subsidies for commercial public broadcast and to maintain plurality in the delivery of content. Money could come from taxes, spectrum auctions or spectrum charging; BBC license fees; access to spectrum at below-market prices or other in-kind treatment; or industry levies, Ofcom said. Assuming the BBC still gets appropriate funding and remains the cornerstone of U.K. public broadcast, the key questions are whether some or all existing commercially funded public broadcasters keep their special roles in delivery of public service content, and whether broadcasters should have access to money beyond the BBC’s. Comments due June 19 -- PSBReview@ofcom.org.uk. The regulator debuted a discussion blog at ofcompsbreview.typepad.com.