March 2010

Inside the FCC's spectrum revolution (and its problems)

The National broadband Plan calls for freeing up 300MHz starting just below the UHF zone (300MHz to 3GHz) to be made "newly available for mobile use within five years." On top of that, the Plan wants to open up 20MHz of licensed space in the little-known 2.3GHz Wireless Communications Service (WCS) band for mobile broadband use.

The FCC is setting a tough agenda for itself with these benchmarks -- but they pale in comparison to the revolution in spectrum philosophy for which the FCC is calling. What the Commission proposes is nothing short of a fundamental restructuring of how the government oversees spectrum ownership and use. And the first test of the new approach will not come in the TV bands, but in that obscure little WCS zone -- its fate being watched by Comcast, AT&T, Sirius XM satellite radio, and the entire auto industry. Historically, the way that the FCC has allocated spectrum is to apportion some license area and designate its use for one purpose. Now the Commission calls this system outmoded.

The pace of technological change (or the emergence of "disruptive technologies," in the FCC's words) means that new uses for old spectrum are constantly being uncovered, while much presently owned bandwidth is underutilized. So the agency is seeking a much more fluid system of spectrum management that allows both government and industry to reconsider the uses of any band much more quickly—at present your garden variety re-allocation takes from six to thirteen years. To speed up this process, the NBP proposes some changes.

National Broadband Plan calls for charging agencies for spectrum use

In its National Broadband Plan, the Federal Communications Commission proposed that agencies pay to use radio spectrum to maximize its potential for commercial use -- a suggestion one former Air Force general called "absurd."

FCC's plan also calls for reallocating spectrum the Defense Department uses to manage satellites and to communicate with unmanned aerial vehicles and Army troops to commercial wireless broadband systems. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration manages federal use of spectrum, and FCC suggested in the spectrum chapter of its plan that Congress should allow NTIA to charge government agencies for spectrum that they currently use for free. The proposal would introduce market efficiencies to federal spectrum use and help spur the development of commercial broadband wireless services, FCC argued. The Technology Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, estimated in 2009 that about 23 percent of the nation's spectrum between 3 MHz to 3 GHz is allocated exclusively to federal agencies.

FCC said imposing a fee "may help to free spectrum for new uses such as broadband, since licensees who use spectrum inefficiently may reduce their holdings once they bear the opportunity cost of spectrum." But the commission said the charge "must avoid disrupting public safety, national defense and other essential government services that protect human life, safety and property, and must account for the need to adjust funding through what can be lengthy budgetary cycles."

Genachowski To TV: Take It Or Leave It

[Commentary] The National Broadband Plan comes down to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski saying this to broadcasters: We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way, but, make no mistake, we are going to take back 120 MHz of your spectrum and sell it to wireless providers so that more Americans can have faster mobile access to the Internet.

The easy way is for broadcasters to simply go along with the NBP's principal proposals: 1) Acquiesce to a repacking of the broadcast plan to free up at least six channels (36 MHz). 2) "Voluntarily" enter into arrangements under which two or more stations would share a single 6 MHz broadcast channel so the FCC can recover another 14 channels (84 MHz). Stations that choose to give up all or some of their spectrum through channel sharing would be rewarded. They would be entitled to a percentage of the proceeds from the eventual auctioning of the spectrum to wireless providers. However, if broadcasters fail to go for channel sharing and auction cash in sufficient numbers or if Congress fails to allow broadcasters in on the auction take, then the NBP says the FCC should do it the hard way.

A Compelling Vision for the Future of Public Safety Communications

The National Broadband Plan lays out a comprehensive vision for the future of public safety communications.

The Plan's recommendations for advancing public safety and homeland security draw upon an extensive record and incorporate input from the public safety community, service providers, vendors and countless others. We truly appreciate the efforts of all who contributed to development of these recommendations, which we believe will revolutionize public safety communications and emergency response. Our central recommendation is the creation of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband wireless network through incentive-based partnerships between public safety agencies and the partner of their choice.

The Plan asks Congress to commit a substantial amount of public funding -- as much as $12-16 billion over 10 years -- to support the build-out and operation of this network. It also recommends that the FCC create an Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) to ensure a baseline of operability and interoperability for the network nationwide. Recommendations to enable roaming and priority access on commercial networks will also help ensure that public safety has access to a network when and where they need it. Our recommendations will ensure that there truly is a nationwide network for the public safety community that is interoperable and provides them with the advanced communications capabilities they need.

The Plan also makes recommendations on how to improve cybersecurity and proposals to facilitate the deployment of Next Generation 911, which will incorporate broadband technologies to improve the emergency response capabilities of public safety answering points (PSAPs), first responders, and other professionals. Finally, the Plan calls for the FCC to explore how to develop a multiple platform, redundant, next-generation alert system—one which uses broadband capabilities to better support underserved communities and reach a wider audience.

FCC Seeks Comment on Public Safety Broadband Deployments

On August 14, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) sought comment on petitions for waiver filed by a number of states and localities seeking to deploy public safety systems in the 700 MHz broadband spectrum. On December 15, 2009, the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) filed a written ex parte in response, including a report compiled by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) Broadband Task Force (BBTF). The PSST stated that it was submitting these recommendations "to the FCC for the minimum requirements necessary to allow localities and regions to build out local systems as part of the 700 MHz nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband public safety network."

Now the FCC seeks comment on both the recommendations of the PSST and the BBTF Report, and in particular those elements of the BBTF Report that address the technical aspects of the operation and interoperation of the regional networks the BBTF contemplates.

In particular, the FCC seeks comment from those entities that have filed waiver requests with the FCC seeking to deploy in the 700 MHz broadband spectrum. Should the Commission condition any waiver disposition on adherence to the standards recommended by the BBTF and the PSST? Are these recommendations sufficient to ensure later compatibility with a nationwide interoperable broadband network for public safety? Does the BBTF Report provide adequate architectural details, specificity, consistency and precision to serve as the basis for conditions on waivers? If not, what modifications would serve this purpose? Could these recommendations provide a basis for evolution to new technological standards? Could these recommendations serve as an appropriate foundation for the work of the proposed Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC)?

Comments due April 6.

National Broadband Plan focuses on e-Rate, online learning

More students should have access to online learning, and the federal e-Rate program should be more widely deployed and should embrace and encourage innovation, according to the National Broadband Plan.

The plan lays out recommendations for ways to equip the country, including schools and libraries, with affordable broadband Internet access -- a necessity as education stakeholders work to ensure that all students are equipped for 21st-century careers. "Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan" has direct implications for education that are addressed in a 22-page package. The plan states that broadband can enable improvements in public education by facilitating the delivery of e-learning and online content, which can provide more personalized learning opportunities for students. Broadband also can facilitate the flow of information, helping teachers, parents, schools, and other organizations make better decisions tied to each student's needs and abilities.

Broadband Plan: Test Fed Sites

The national broadband plan released by the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday presents federal Web managers with a somewhat impossible mission. The plan recommends that the Office of Management and Budget measure federal Web sites against private sector sites and hold federal sites that don't stack up accountable for improving each year.

"Because public sector Web sites lag the private sector in usability and design, the Federal Web Managers Council should benchmark the design and usability of government Web sites against leading industry best practices," the roadmap states.

At the same time, the plan observes that current privacy laws prevent federal sites from copying commercial strategies, such as using persistent cookies - files deposited on a user's computer to track online activity. Popular private sector sites regularly deploy cookies to learn user preferences and automatically personalize content for them.

FCC's Broadband Plan and Cities, Counties

[Commentary] The National Broadband Plan charts a brave new vision for the United States.

For example, in this plan the FCC has set a goal of "one hundred squared", that is, connecting 100 million households with 100 megabits per second. This is radical because it cannot be accomplished with existing copper wire networks such as the telephone networks or cable TV networks. Such speeds require fiber optic cable to every home and business, a radical change. The speeds copper can carry are quite limited. But fiber cable lightwave signals theoretically, have no upper limit on speed.

Suburban communities can be wired with fiber, just like the FCC's plan envisions and Seattle intends to do. Some Seattle area communities such as Kirkland and Woodinville already have fiber networks installed by Verizon. In rural communities installing fiber to farms and small towns may not always make economic sense, although in some visionary places like Chelan County, the local PUD is doing it anyway. But the FCC has envisioned an alternative for rural communities - high speed wireless broadband. Today's wireless networks are usually called "3G" or 3rd Generation. Fourth Generation - 4G - wireless networks will be available in a few places by the end of 2010. These faster networks require a lot of spectrum. You may recall that, in June, 2009, all TV broadcast signals became digital - every TV in the nation had to have a wired cable connection or a digital antenna. The FCC mandated this digital transition to take spectrum away from UHF TV use and give it to telecommunications companies to build 3G and 4G networks. The FCC's broadband plan calls for adding another 500 megahertz of spectrum to be dedicated to new, faster, wireless networks. The FCC will try to convince TV broadcasters to give up even more of the 300 MHz of spectrum now used for TV. And the government itself controls another 600 MHz of spectrum, some of which could be used for wireless broadband.

FCC's Network Neutrality Proceeding Means More Work For State Department

The FCC's actions on network neutrality, particularly if it classifies broadband as a Title II service subject to mandatory access provisions, could create work for the State Department, according to Ambassador Philip Verveer, assistant secretary of state and U.S. coordinator for international communications & information policy.

"I can tell you from my travels around the world and my discussions with figures in various governments around the world there is a very significant preoccupation with respect to what we are proposing with respect to broadband and especially with respect to the net neutrality." Ambassador Verveer said that the proceeding "is one that could be employed by regimes that don't agree with our perspectives about essentially avoiding regulation of the Internet and trying to be sure not to do anything to damage its dynamism and its organic development. It could be employed as a pretext or as an excuse for undertaking public policy activities that we would disagree with pretty profoundly."

He says he has tried to assuage his counterparts' concerns over the proceeding. "But [the concern] is there, and depending upon what happens with respect to the net neutrality proceeding, it may well end up having an effect that will cause us at the State Department to have to engage in a lot of discussions with our foreign counterparts."

The thrust of Verveer's brief speech, whose brevity he said was in inverse proportion to the importance of the subject, was the impact of cloud computing on privacy and intermediary liability.

Comcast: 100-Meg Residential Service Coming This Year

Comcast starting this year plans to roll out 100-Megabit-per-second downstream service for residential customers -- twice its fastest Internet tier today.

Currently, Comcast has deployed DOCSIS 3.0, the next-generation cable modem technology, to more than 75% of its nationwide footprint representing some 38 million homes and business premises. The MSO's Extreme 50 tier offers up to 50 Mbps downstream in those markets. In the next 12 to 18 months, Comcast anticipates being able to offer 100-Mbps Internet service to many, if not all, of those customers, said Cathy Avgiris, senior vice president and general manager of communications and data services. The company is the biggest broadband provider in the U.S., with 15.9 million high-speed subscribers as of the end of 2009.

Benton

Search