FCC List: Companies to Battle for 700-MHz Spectrum
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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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The maverick network service provider run by former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, and that was largely responsible for convincing the US Federal Communications Commission to impose new and innovative rules for bidders on certain blocks of the 700 MHz UHF spectrum, is now saying it may not be able to bid after all. In a formal complaint to the FCC filed Monday, lawyers for Frontline Wireless accused the FCC of "getting it wrong" by having set the asking price of the choicest blocks in the auction too high.
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AT&T Inc. hasn't decided whether it will bid for the highly-desirable 700MHz band because it doesn't know if it can build a profitable business given the open-access rules set for the wireless spectrum by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in July.
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Will the F.C.C. open new doors to spectrum access?
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The high bids totaled $3.2 billion in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's auction of wireless spectrum licenses in the 700MHz band.
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A large, low-frequency band that's currently used by UHF television stations could be the key to a workable wireless internet -- if the big U.S. cell carriers don't kill it first.
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Google has said that it will commit to spending at least $4.6 billion in the upcoming 700MHz wireless auction if the FCC commits to greater competition and consumer choice as a requirement for using the spectrum.
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At the close of the first full day of&#160;bidding for 700MHz wireless spectrum&#160;Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission reported nearly $2.8 billion in provisional winning bids.There were 1,122 new bids filed in the second of two rounds that was held in the afternoon. The total value of all provisional bid winners jumped 15 percent from the morning bidding round, when $2.4 billion was offered.A total of 1,099 licenses can be bid upon, although only 902 had received bids by the end of the day.All the bids are filed anonymously and bidders are prohibited from publicly discussing their bids in an effort to reduce anticompetitive behavior, the FCC said.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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Broadcasters are trying to persuade the FCC not to allow wireless Internet services in the white spaces of TV spectrum, plan ad campaign.
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Plans for valuable wireless spectrum being considered by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission may not go far enough to encourage a new broadband competitor, said groups calling for open-access rules for part of the spectrum.
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(InfoWorld) - Several companies have challengedÂ spectrum auction rulesÂ recently set by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, with Frontline Wireless protesting that the auction of the 700MHz band to be auctioned in January could shut out small bidders. In addition, AT&T has asked the FCC to reconsider requirements for the winning bidder of a block of spectrum to be used to build a nationwide broadband network for public safety agencies. The rules require bidders to reach a service agreement with public safety officials before the auction, and the FCC's decision to deny bidders the spectrum if an agreement is not reached is "an extreme penalty," AT&T said in its petition. AT&T and Frontline, a startup made up of government and wireless industry veterans, filed petitions for reconsideration of the auction rules with the FCC Monday. They were among 10 companies that filed petitions in the last week asking the FCC to reconsider the auction rules it set in July for the 700MHz band of spectrum being vacated by U.S. television stations. The FCC is scheduled to auction 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band beginning Jan. 16. The FCC set a reserve price of $10 billion for the entire 62MHz, but many observers believe the auctions will raise much more than that. The spectrum is currently controlled by U.S. television stations using channels 52 to 69. The U.S. Congress in late 2005 passed legislation that requires the stations to move to digital broadcasts and abandon this spectrum by February 2009. Frontline raised several objections about the auction rules. The company and someÂ consumer groupsÂ had called for the FCC to require that the winning bidder of a portion of the spectrum resell the spectrum at wholesale rates, but the FCC declined to do so. FCC members talked about including small businesses in the auction, Frontline noted. But the FCC denied bidding discounts, called credits, for small business wholesalers, Frontline said. Small businesses can't compete against large wireless carriers unless they adopt a wholesale model, the company said. "Wholesaling is also the only model a new nationwide wireless network operator could realistically afford to adopt, given the massive costs associated with providing retail service -- consider Verizon's 2,300 retail outlets and its $1.9 billion annual advertising budget," Frontline said in its petition. Frontline also suggested the reserve, or minimum prices, for two blocks of spectrum are too high. Frontline objected to a reserve price of about $1.3 billion for a 10MHz portion of spectrum to be paired with 12MHz set aside for emergency response communications. Frontline said the $4.6 billion reserve is also too high for another 22MHz of spectrum, for which the FCC adopted so-called open access rules. If the reserve price is met, the FCC will require the winning bidder to allow customers to bring wireless devices from other carriers and prohibit the winner from blocking or slowing competing Web content. Under the FCC rules, both blocks of spectrum would be re-auctioned under new rules if the reserve prices aren't met. "The unlawfully high reserve prices will nullify or disrupt and damage the Commission's carefully considered decisions as to the highest and best use of this spectrum, encourage bidding strategies that defeat these sound allocations decisions and seriously reduce auction revenues," Frontline's lawyers wrote. Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the FCC's decision to require open-access rules supported by Frontline and some consumer groups. Those rules are "arbitrary, capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law," Verizon Wireless said in a brief filed with the court.
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Verizon Wireless is appealing new rules requiring some soon-to-be auctioned wireless spectrum to be open to any devices mobile customers please. Google says the move is anti-consumer.
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Blog: Government officials are 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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You buy a cell phone, load any software you want on it, then choose your carrier. This vision of expanded consumer choices in the wireless world might be a little closer today than it has ever been, especially with reports that the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is circulating an &quot;open platform&quot; proposal for the upcoming auction of the 700-MHz band.
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(InfoWorld) - Plans for valuable wireless spectrum being considered by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission may not go far enough to encourage a new broadband competitor, said groups calling for open-access rules for part of the spectrum. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, in an interview with USA Today published Tuesday, said he wants a "truly open broadband network" for the 700MHz spectrum scheduled to be auctioned by early next year. That would mean customers could attach any device to the network and download any application, Martin told the newspaper. Martin's proposal, reportedly to be applied to about a third of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned, is similar to net neutrality rules that several consumer groups and Internet companies have championed for broadband networks. But groups calling for open access to the 700MHz spectrum want more than that. Groups like Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, and Free Press want the FCC to require winners of part of the spectrum to provide wholesale access to any wireless or broadband provider that wants to offer service on that spectrum. Rules that would allow customers to attach any device and download any application are a good first step, but what Martin seems to be proposing is "not open access," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "Our definition of open access includes wholesale. You're not going to get competition in the broadband space unless you have wholesale as well." The FCC is expected to set rules for use of the 700MHz spectrum within weeks, and there's heavy debate in Washington, D.C., over what those rules should look like. Many observers say the 700MHz spectrum, now used by U.S. television stations for over-the-air broadcasts, is the ideal spectrum for long-range wireless broadband services. With no other large auctions of spectrum in sight, Public Knowledge and other members of the Open Internet Coalition say open access rules offer the best chance for U.S. customers to ever see a third broadband service that competes with large cable and telecom providers. But some wireless providers, think tanks, and lawmakers have questioned open access rules. On Monday, 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the FCC calling on the agency to reject open access rules. Such rules could hinder public safety communications on the spectrum, said the letter, signed by Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, plus 36 other Republicans and one Democrat. The 700MHz spectrum includes 60MHz to be auctioned to commercial users and another 24MHz set aside for public safety agencies, such as police and fire departments. One proposal before the FCC, from startup Frontline Wireless, would marry 10MHz of commercial spectrum to be auctioned with 12MHz of public safety spectrum for a network that would have both public safety and commercial users. Open access rules would dictate how auction winners manage their networks and could reduce the value of the spectrum, the letter said. "We urge you to ensure that the rules the FCC crafts to govern the 700MHz auction do not impose burdensome and unnecessary open access regulations on licensees," the letter said. But members of the Open Internet Coalition said consumers want more freedom than current wireless networks provide. While the wireless industry likes to trumpet competition among carriers, mobile devices are tied to one network, and customers often have to pay huge early termination fees, said Ben Scott, Washington policy director for Free Press, a media reform group.
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Consumers rejoice, Verizon fumes Good news for smartphone users. Bad news for the big name wireless carriers. FCC chairman Kevin Martin has released suggested rules for an upcoming radio-spectrum auction that would allow consumers to attach any device and any application to U.S. broadband wireless networks - without approval from the likes of AT&amp;T and Verizon Wireless.â¦
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WASHINGTONâThe 700 MHz spectrum situation just got worse. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 13-9 Wednesday to possibly never require TV broadcasters to return spectrum in the 700 MHz band.