The Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to craft rules for the 2155-2175 MHz band has been met with the kind of mixed industry feedback expected in such a proceeding, with a notable exception that could provide a window into what could become a bigger policy issue for the wireless industry as it becomes a mobile platform for broadband and entertainment services.
Some industry parties want assurances that incumbents in adjacent frequencies are protected from interference as a result of new operations in the 2155-2175 MHz band. Others called for flexible spectrum use, various band plans, auctions to assign licenses, and the same open-access condition imposed on one-third of the 700 MHz spectrum set for auction.
Family friendly broadband
However, there is a voice in the rulemaking largely unfamiliar to wireless policy debates, but one that’s abundantly powerful in America’s cultural wars and political discourse. It’s the voice of Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council.
Perkins wants the FCC to transform 2155-2175 MHz spectrum into a free and family friendly broadband service, effectively picking up where M2Z Networks Inc. left off. M2Z aggressively lobbied for such a network, agreeing to pay the U.S. Treasury 5% of revenues from subscription services in exchange for obtaining spectrum without competing in an auction. But the FCC last year booted M2Z’s applications and those of others that sought spectrum at 2155-2175 MHz – known as the AWS III band. M2Z has challenged the ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Parker, who filed in the M2Z proceeding, is not letting the issue go. “It is imperative that the FCC encourage the industry to do more to equip parents, teachers and caregivers with new, more reliable and user-friendly tools to protect our nation’s children from online pornography. It is FRC’s ardent belief that the FCC should require that the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum band be used for the provision of nationwide wireless broadband service that filters out pornographic content at the network level,” Parker told the FCC.
Parker added that “such rules would give families a desperately needed tool – a broadband network that is set to ‘safe’ from day one and remains so.”
M2Z, with its appeal pending, urged the FCC to move promptly to adopt 2155-2175 MHz rules along the lines advocated by Parker and many lawmakers that found merit in M2Z’s plan. At the same time, it could be difficult to impose a federal mandate to control wireless content because of complex and contentious legal and regulatory issues apt to be raised by such a policy.
MetroPCS Communications Inc. took a pragmatic view to the rulemaking, arguing it is premature for parties to comment and for regulators to set 2155-2175 MHz rules without knowing the outcome of the 700 MHz auction. Moreover, MetroPCS observed: “Robust debate among and between interested parties, and the formulation of any consensus of positions on service rules, geographic market areas and the band plan will be inhibited while commenters are subject to the commission’s anti-collusion rule.”
