Startup appeals FCC auction rules
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A group of investors that is vying to build a national network for public safety communications is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider rules it approved governing an upcoming spectrum auction.
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More than 200 companies qualified to bid in the upcoming auction of public airwaves that could raise as much as $15 billion for the U.S. Treasury. But it's not clear whether any of those companies will fulfill one of the key goals of the auction -- to attract a bidder that would build a wireless...
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The Bush administration is expected to press for speedier licensing of public airwaves for auction to private companies. But telecom regulators say wireless apps need unlicensed spectrum too. By Joanna Glasner.
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Presidential candidate John Edwards is urging the FCC to make it easier for small companies to acquire wireless spectrum when it goes to auction next year.
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The FCC releases names of 266 companies officially planning to bid in the government's upcoming 700-MHz-spectrum auction. More than half those botched their initial applications, including big names like Verizon, AT&T,  Qualcomm and Alltel. They have until Jan. 4 to qualify for the auction.
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If the FCC's auction of former UHF bandwidth were to end here, it might raise over $19 billion. But with bidding activity slowing to a crawl, the Commission has one more tool in its arsenal to squeeze out some more value.
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After tossing Wi-Fi start-up bids for exclusive control of fallow spectrum, federal regulators want public input on how to proceed. Will a new fight over "open access" rules emerge?
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Several wireless firms are challenging different parts of the spectrum auction rules.
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Blog: The FCC is writing rules to determine how to use extremely valuable wireless spectrum that will be auctioned in September to the highest bidder.
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A venture led by the Microsoft co-founder has applied to bid in an upcoming U.S. auction of wireless airwaves, along with Google, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Qualcomm.
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After tossing WiFi start-up bids for exclusive control of fallow spectrum, federal regulators want public input on how to proceed. Will a new fight over "open access" rules emerge?
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(InfoWorld) - AT&T Inc. has backed away fromÂ earlier complaints about proposed open-access rules on parts of theÂ 700MHz spectrum to be auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission by early next year. Draft auction rules floated by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin have "struck an interesting and creative balance between the competing interests" that are lobbying the commission, AT&T said of its understanding of those rules in a statement Wednesday. Just last Thursday, AT&T Vice President Robert Quinn had written the FCC saying the so-called Google plan for open-access rules for part of the auctioned spectrum "would turn the clock back on a decade of bipartisan consensus on the proper approach to wireless deregulation." In addition, open-access rules could expose the FCC "to a reversal in the courts," with lawsuits delaying the auction winner from using the spectrum, Quinn wrote on July 12. The open-access proposals would diminish the value of the spectrum and amount to "corporate welfare," AT&T said. Since then, AT&T has gained a better understanding of Martin's draft auction rules proposal, AT&T said Wednesday. Martin's proposal, as AT&T now understands it, would "allow" the auction winner to experiment with some open access rules, Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, said in a statement. "The plan would enable the introduction of an alternative wireless business model without requiring changes in the business models of AT&T and others in what is a highly competitive wireless industry," Cicconi added. Google Inc. and several consumer groups have called for open-access rules on a portion of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. Under open-access rules, auction winners would be prohibited from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors, and they would have to connect to any wireless devices customers wanted. In addition, under open-access rules proposed by Public Knowledge and other groups, the auction winner would have to sell spectrum access to competitors at wholesale prices. Open-access rules are needed to encourage a third national broadband competitor to the large cable and telecom carriers, the groups have said. "We urged the commission not to rely on a status quo approach to the upcoming auction," wrote Richard Whitt, Google's telecom and media counsel, in a letter to the FCC July 9. "Rather, the agency must do what is necessary to bring about robust forms of ... broadband competition." Public Knowledge, a digital rights group, has said Martin's draft rules don't go far enough. While Martin wants device portability and no blocking of Web applications, he hasn't called for wholesale access to the spectrum. Without wholesale access, it's unlikely a third broadband service could challenge cable and telecom services, Public Knowledge has said. Art Brodsky, communications director for Public Knowledge, called the new AT&T position a "remarkable turnaround." But Randolph May, president of the conservative think tank, The Free State Foundation, said he disagrees with AT&T's interpretation of what the auction rules would allow. "My impression (perhaps erroneously) had been that Chairman Martin's proposal would mandate an open access ... regime in the one block [of the spectrum]," May wrote in an e-mail. "There is a significant difference between 'allowing' and 'mandating.' My understanding is that absent a mandate, nothing at all in any existing or proposed FCC rule would prevent the winning bidder from voluntarily adopting an open access business model."
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The FCC's auction of rights to a huge chunk of radio airwaves invites new players to the telecom game. If Google bids big, it could mean open wireless access for all
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As the FCC opens a multibillion-dollar spectrum auction, questions remain, including  whether the auction will produce a winning bidder that will challenge telecom and cable-based broadband providers with a national wireless broadband network.
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A federal airwaves auction starting today is expected to bring consumers improved wireless broadband services and will likely provide the last opportunity to create a nationwide challenger to the big cellphone companies.
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A majority of the members of the Federal Communications Commission told a House panel yesterday that they support an open-access requirement for the coming radio spectrum auction that would give consumers more choices for cellphone devices and services.
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Verizon Wireless challenges the the FCC's proposed open-access rules for the upcoming auction of 700-MHz spectrum. Verizon's petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit calls the FCC regs "arbitrary and capricious."