FCC plans for 700 MHz draw heated debate

FCC PLANS FOR 700 MHz DRAW HEATED DEBATE
[SOURCE: RCRWireless, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Silva]
Nearly drowned out in broad policy debates over controversial public-safety and broadband wireless proposals are pressing questions about how the Federal Communications Commission will craft the 700 MHz band plan. A coalition of 21 small- and medium-sized wireless and wireline carriers and state regulatory agencies are worried the FCC is leaning toward a 700 MH band plan largely favoring large geographic wireless licenses over small ones for auction later this year. “This is a matter of great importance … given the unique technical attributes of the 700 MHz band, which make it ideally suited to serve many of the more rural areas that are served or are proposed to be served by the proponents of the Balanced Consensus Plan,” the group told the FCC. Included in the coalition are Alltel Corp., Aloha Partners L.P., Dobson Communications Corp. Leap Wireless International Inc., MetroPCS Communications Inc., U.S. Cellular Corp. and the Rural Cellular Association. “If the FCC does not have multiple small and medium blocks with paired spectrum, all small and regional carriers will be forced to compete against each other in one or two blocks of spectrum, while the large carriers will have the very large spectrum blocks to themselves because smaller carriers cannot compete in the auction for those licenses,” said Victor Meena, president of Cellular South Inc., in testimony before the House telecom subcommittee.
http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070423/FREE/70419016...

* A Legacy-Defining Moment
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Gigi Sohn]
[Commentary] Every Federal Communications Commission Chairman has one or two legacy-defining moments in his tenure. Current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will be facing one of those moments in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, the FCC is expected to adopt an order that will begin to set the terms of the most valuable spectrum auction we have yet seen, and likely the last significant auction in our lifetimes.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/916