WASHINGTON-Jeb Bush, the Florida governor who figured big in the controversial electoral victory that proved decisive in getting his brother elected president, has entered the political fray over third-generation mobile-phone spectrum by urging the Federal Communications Commission to let schools keep frequencies sought by the cellular industry.
“While we certainly recognize the need of the private sector to use bandwidth in its pursuit of telecommunications goals, we strongly disagree that it should be done at the expense of established and highly beneficial educational programs. Our understanding of the proposed 3G usage of this spectrum is that there remain serious doubts as to the viability of the technology itself,” Bush and Florida Education Commissioner Charlie Crist told the FCC last week.
The mobile-phone industry wants the 2500 MHz bands used by schools and churches for 3G services.
In another interesting development last week, Douglas Weiser-the dogged advocate of wireless emergency alert service-said he has teamed up with Pentagon officials to support the Department of Defense’s battle to retain the 1700 MHz band that mobile-phone industry wants for 3G.
“Civil preparedness must be maintained as a primary focus of national security and defense. It is unquestionably not the focus of the wireless industry. We, therefore, submit that further use of our airwaves by private industry at the expense of our national defense is not in the public interest,” said Weiser in a letter sent to key Pentagon and Senate Armed Forces Committee members last week.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on readiness, plans to hold a hearing next month on military spectrum that cell-phone firms want. Officials from the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office, which are studying the issue for Inhofe, will among those testifying at the hearing.
The FCC is reviewing public comments on two government studies-one conducted by the FCC and the other by the Commerce Department-that cast doubt on the mobile-phone industry’s ability to share frequencies in the 2500 MHz and 1700 MHz bands with educational, religious, broadband Internet and military licenses.
Last year in Turkey, the World Radiocommunication Conference identified the 698-960 MHz, 1710-1885 MHz and 2500-2690 MHz bands for 3G technology that promises a mix of voice, data, video and multimedia applications on mobile phones with high-speed Internet access. The mobile-phone industry says it needs additional spectrum to make 3G a reality, though some skeptics question whether consumers will support a technology that wireless firms here and overseas are betting billions of dollars on.
In addition to everything else, the mobile-phone industry, which will meet again with Commerce Secretary Donald Evans on Tuesday, is challenged with securing 3G spectrum from the powerful broadcasting industry.
The Florida governor is not the only political ally of President Bush voicing opposition to 3G mobile-phone use in the 2500 MHz band.
In late February, about a month before being appointed by President Bush to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Texas Public Utility Commission Chairman Patrick Wood III told the FCC that giving 2500 MHz spectrum to mobile-phone carriers could hinder deployment of fixed broadband wireless services to rural customers. Wood and other Texas PUC commissioners also said such a move would conflict with the 1996 telecom act.
Earlier this month, Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) wrote FCC Chairman Michael Powell and said a 3G reallocation of the 2500 MHz band “will strip our nation’s educational community of a powerful and irreplaceable medium.”
Schools and churches, highly mobilized on the 3G spectrum issue, are not the only ones out to protect the 2500 MHz band. WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp.-two of the largest long-distance telephone carriers-are fighting to keep 2500 MHz licenses that each paid $1 billion for in order to provide businesses and residents with high-speed, broadband Internet service via fixed wireless technology.
The position staked out by Sprint has forced its mobile-phone affiliate to break ranks with the mobile-phone industry. Sprint PCS insists it has sufficient spectrum to roll out 3G services.
Verizon Wireless, the nation’s No. 1 mobile-phone service provider, said the FCC might have overlooked a critical factor in its 2500 MHz final report on 3G spectrum. Verizon Wireless claims the vast majority of educational 2500 MHz spectrum is leased to commercial entities.
The study by Commerce’s National Telecommunication and Information Administration, which determined some sharing of the 1700 MHz band between military and mobile-phone licensees is possible, provides perhaps the best bet for the cellular industry. Industry prefers the 1700 MHz band because it would enable global roaming and provide the kind of economies of scale that lead to lower production costs for suppliers. The Pentagon maintains the 1700 MHz band cannot be shared with industry.
If 3G sharing of the 2500 MHz and 1700 MHz is not possible, policy makers will have to decide existing licensees on those bands can be moved to other frequencies. The FCC said it could not find alternative spectrum for 2500 MHz licensees.
For the Pentagon’s 1700 MHz band, it is an open question.
“While the identified reallocation tasks are significant, they are not insurmountable,” stated Motorola Inc.
The mobile-phone industry has asked key lawmakers in Congress to consider legislation to ensure that DoD directly receives money it needs from the 3G spectrum auction (scheduled for June 2002) to move its existing 1700 MHz licensees to another band.
But even before that can happen, military top brass would have to agree that new spectrum is comparable and that use of new frequencies would not diminish military capability.
