WASHINGTON-The No. 1 issue for the wireless telecommunications industry is access to additional spectrum, whether it is the incumbent cellular operators wanting the spectrum cap lifted (and start-up operator attempts to thwart that), spectrum for third-generation wireless or uses for spectrum made available with the transition to digital TV.
The specialized mobile radio community is no different. “Our people need more spectrum to grow,” said Alan Shark, president of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association.
More, more, more
More spectrum would allow SMR operators to offer different services. The problem is manufacturers will not offer new products until spectrum has been allocated, and the Federal Communications Commission is reluctant to allocate new spectrum until products are available to use that spectrum. “It is a chicken-and-egg problem,” Shark said.
AMTA believes the best option for gaining more spectrum is having the FCC allocate six megahertz of the available 36 megahertz in the 700 MHz band to “non-consumer wireless” uses. Shark said he coined the term non-consumer wireless to define those wireless uses where businesses offer communications service to businesses.
AMTA is not the only group that wants access to the spectrum located at 746-806 MHz. The Industrial Telecommunications Association also has asked that six megahertz be put aside for private use. Shark believes the same spectrum can be allocated for both traditionally private use and non-consumer wireless, especially now that ITA has “caved” on whether it should gain access to spectrum through auctions.
Since the ITA official position is that it has not caved on auctions, it is unclear whether the two groups can co-exist peacefully.
“It is hard for me to respond to an emotional response from Alan. If he looks carefully at our filing, he will [see we have crafted] a strategy that adopts to the band in question … we are attempting to craft a solution using band managers that would be invisible to the private wireless community … our approach had to be different for the [60-69] band … it would be foolish for us to not craft a technical approach to gain access to [60-69]. It is somewhat of a reach to classify it as a cave,” said ITA President Mark Crosby.
The government is transitioning channels 60-69 (746-806 MHz) from TV use to other areas. Twenty-four megahertz was allocated for public-safety uses and 36 megahertz is expected to be auctioned for commercial purposes.
ITA is pressing the use of band managers in an attempt to gain access to the 60-69 spectrum. ITA presented an outline of the band-manager concept to the FCC last month. The outline and an interview with Crosby suggest that there would be rules dictating only band managers could participate in the auction and that the spectrum only could be used for private wireless offerings.
Restricting the auction to band managers and the spectrum block to only private wireless use cause problems, said Peter Tenhula, senior legal adviser to FCC Commissioner Michael Powell.
Congress ordered the auction for TV channels 60-69 to be moved up as part of the defense spending bill. The FCC last week presented to Congress a time line that will ensure that the auction is held and money is in hand before Sept. 30.
Other options
The 60-69 spectrum is not the only spectrum available to SMR operators. The FCC is also preparing to hold an auction for spectrum in the lower frequencies in the 800 MHz band. The auctions for 60-69 and the lower 800 MHz bands could be held at the same time, said Kathleen O’Brien Ham, deputy chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
“We have run four auctions simultaneously. We can run multiple auctions at once. I am not sure that they would be precisely overlapping,” Ham said.
AMTA also has suggested auctions for geographic licenses in the 450 MHz band-a proposal Shark admits is controversial. “Our proposal [for the 450 MHz band] is very controversial because it steps on the concepts of ownership,” he said.
Crosby said ITA remains strenuously opposed to license auctions at 450 MHz.
The Nextel factor
The impact of Nextel Communications Inc.’s dominance in the industry also is an issue for many SMR operators.
The SMR industry is anxiously awaiting a decision by Judge Thomas Hogan whether to accept a modified consent decree that would allow Nextel to gain access to spectrum assigned to Geotek Communications Inc. If Hogan approves the modified plan and the FCC agrees, Nextel could gain access to this spectrum in October instead of July 2005, when the original decree ended.
In the meantime, the FCC must decide whether the Geotek licenses can be transferred to a trust to be held until October. It is unclear whether licenses can be transferred to an entity that does not intend to offer service.
“In the interim, if the FCC gives these license to the third party they would be forwarding this ruse. The only reason you give it to a third party is so Nextel [can get the licenses]. This is quite a farce. Wilmington Bank does not want to offer service,” said John Reardon, general counsel for Mobex Communications Inc.
Mobex is part of a group, the Alliance for Radio Competition, formed to fight the Nextel/Geotek deal. ARC “consists of dispatch radio providers who desire to promote and protect competition in the dispatch radio services market and to ensure that consumers have access to economical dispatch services,” according to a recent FCC filing by the group.
