FCC's Adelstein Doubts Entry Of National Wireless Web Provider

FCC'S ADELSTEIN DOUBTS ENTRY OF NATIONAL WIRELESS WEB PROVIDER
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal 6/13, AUTHOR: Corey Boles corey.boles@dowjones.com]
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Wireless Communications Association International, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voiced doubts about the potential for a new national wireless broadband provider to enter the market to take on the incumbent telephone and cable broadband providers. he said he was reluctant to structure the rules of the upcoming radio spectrum auction to encourage the entry of a new player unless there was a commitment that there would be a serious bidder at the auction. Commissioner Adelstein said the FCC risked excluding smaller bidders from getting access to the valuable spectrum coming available for no reason if it designates a large block of it to be auctioned off but no large bidder comes forward. A group calling itself the Coalition for 4G America has been aggressively lobbying for a 22 megahertz block of spectrum with a national license to be auctioned off. The coalition includes the likes of Google Inc., Intel Corp., EBay Inc. unit Skype Inc., and satellite television companies EchoStar Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118176728181934284.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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* Commissioner Adelstein's remarks
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-274064A1.doc