More Airwaves Key to Internet Buildout -FCC Official
September 02 2009 - 9:03AM
Dow Jones News
Access to valuable radio and TV airwaves will be a critical
factor in blanketing the country with high-speed Internet, a
Federal Communications Commission official said Wednesday.
The FCC is collecting volumes of written and oral comments on
Internet access, and spectrum availability has emerged as a clear
necessity, said Blair Levin, a well known telecom analyst who is
leading the FCC's broadband plan effort.
"There's pretty much consensus in the record, there's not enough
of it, Levin told telecom executives and lobbyists at their regular
Udwin Breakfast Group.
With the development of smart phones like Apple Inc.'s (AAPL)
iPhone or Palm Inc's (PALM) Pre, the need for more airwaves will
increase dramatically, Levin said. Smart phone users generally eat
up far more cellular minutes and bandwidth than people with more
traditional cell phones.
Levin's comments should be good news to wireless companies like
T-Mobile USA or smaller competitors to giants like Verizon Wireless
or AT&T Inc. (T), who have been angling for access to more
airwaves.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications
Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone PLC (VOD.) T-Mobile is a unit of Deutsche
Telekom ADR (DT).
It isn't clear where the needed airwaves will surface. The U.S.
government, namely the Defense Department, holds a sizable chunk.
Industry insiders say the government's airwaves could be more
efficiently used in the private sector.
Legislation is pending in Congress to catalogue how all the
wireless airwaves are being used.
Companies and agencies that hold licenses to frequencies tend to
want to hang onto it, but Levin warned that licensees should be
prepared to justify their ownership.
"I want you to be worried," he told the executives. "I'm
worried. My way of coping with it is to make other people worry.
That's actually the intellectual process we should go through."
Meanwhile, two other government agencies - the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the Commerce Department - are reviewing
thousands of applications for some of the $7.2 billion in stimulus
money set aside by Congress to build out new high-speed Internet
lines and services.
Levin has already stated that $7.2 billion won't be nearly
enough to blanket the country with Internet access, but the hope is
that the grant money can encourage companies to seek Internet
subscribers in areas they wouldn't go on their own.
The FCC is drafting a plan, due in February, that will detail
just how the government can ensure that everyone in the country has
some way to wire up.
The FCC has held dozens of meetings seeking input from
representatives of all facets of the telecom sector and government.
Field meetings will be held outside Washington this fall.
-By Fawn Johnson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9263;
fawn.johnson@dowjones.com