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spectrum posts

FCC keen on commandeering TV spectrum for wireless broadband

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 28th 2009 at 7:12AM

We'll come right out and say it, we like Julius Genachowski. Whether you agree with the dude's policies or not, you can't deny he's pursuing them with gusto. Having already noted the insufficient carrying capacity of current mobile broadband airways to deal with incoming 4G connections, the FCC chairman is now reported to be moving ahead with plans to provide greater spectrum allocation for those purposes. Currently in the draft stage, the latest Commission proposals include a plan to reclaim airwaves from digital broadcasters (and pay them appropriately for it), which are to then be sold off to the highest bidder from among the wireless service providers. Executing the most extreme version of this plan could generate around $62 billion in auction revenues, though it would require transitioning digital TV viewers over to cable or subscription services and is therefore unlikely. Jules and his crew are still "looking at everything" and ruling out nothing, but we can probably expect to see a moderate shift of TV spectrum rights over to wireless carriers in the final plans when they're revealed in February.

[Via Phone Scoop]

FCC says there's a 'looming spectrum crisis'

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 7th 2009 at 1:00PM

"What happens when every wireless user has an iPhone, a Palm Pre, or a BlackBerry Tour?" Speaking at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment in San Diego today, FCC head Julius Genachowski has said that he wants to "close the spectrum gap" -- the difference between the spectrum it's making available for wireless data versus enormous usage projections (400 petabytes a month by 2013, he says) that'll be brought about by smarter, easier-to-use devices and ubiquitous high-speed data through a handful of initiatives including the promotion of the smart use of existing spectrum through the use of femotcells, WiFi, and smart antennas, and -- more importantly -- reallocation of existing spectrum. Genachowski says there are "no easy pickings" for reallocation, but the Commission is aggressively pursuing additional airspace that can help keep 4G rollouts on track. He's gone on to say that they'll be adopting the widely-discussed "shot clock" policy for placement of new towers, giving locales a limited window to protest placement of cell sites that'll help spread 4G services over wider footprints. The guy seems genuinely concerned about keeping 4G rollouts rolling, so let's see just how far the guys in Washington are willing to go to do that.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sells LTE spectrum to AT&T

by Darren Murph posted Sep 17th 2009 at 2:17PM

Here's one straight from the depths of left field. If you'll recall, Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen was considering buying a bit of spectrum from the 700MHz auction after founding Vulcan Spectrum LLC. Evidently, the guy's bid ended in a win, but he's obviously not so keen on getting in on the flagging MVNO business. According to a document filed with the FCC, Allen has agreed to sell the licenses he owns -- which cover sections of Oregon and Washington -- to AT&T, though the carrier isn't disclosing financial terms. According to AT&T spokesman Michael Coe, the company is making the purchase to "meet customer demand and to support its transition to LTE." Unfortunately, Mr. Allen wasn't available to say what he was planning to do with the proceeds, though we did hear that one Kayne West was available to reiterate his belief that LTE was the best of all time.

[Via phonescoop]

FCC looking to free up spectrum, and the airwaves that support it, with broadband and wireless for all

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 4th 2009 at 10:08AM

Want more wireless broadband? Sure, we all do, even the FCC, which is making a case to open up more disused portions of the spectrum. The first goal is to come up with a way to sate Congress's demands for a nation-wide broadband service, as opening up the airwaves would certainly be a lot cheaper than running more wires everywhere. Secondly, though, the FCC wants to assuage issues cellular providers are having in keeping bits flowing to all those fancy new smartphones. Exactly how long it'll take for the FCC to rope off another few bands of frequencies for use remains to be seen, but we're sure whenever it does it'll use them as another reason to block white space approval.

CSIRO looks to analog TV spectrum for 100Mbit wireless broadband

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 27th 2009 at 3:34PM

Australia has already rolled out its plans to bring high-speed broadband to 90% of the country's population via fiber optic lines, and it looks like the folks at CSIRO are now pitching in with some ideas of their own to bring speedy wireless broadband to that ever present "last mile," and anyone else looking for an extra wireless option. As with others, they're looking to take advantage of all the analog TV broadcast towers that'll become available once the digital switchover in the country is complete, and it seems that they also have a few tricks up their sleeves that could eventually deliver wireless speeds up to 100Mbit per second (though it'd apparently be between 12 and 50 megabits per second initially). To reach those speeds, the group is apparently experimenting with a combination of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (or OFDM), used in basic wireless standards like 802.11g, and multiple input multiple output technology, or MIMO, which uses a range of antennas to transmit and receive multiple data streams. Of course, there's still quite a bit of work to be done before any of that moves beyond the lab, but CSIRO says that field trials could begin in 12 to 24 months, with a commercial rollout possible in the next three to five years.

[Thanks, Aaron]

FCC cancels white space meeting to focus on digital TV transition

by Darren Murph posted Dec 15th 2008 at 12:05AM

Man, we're clearly in the wrong line of work. It seems that being in the FCC means that you can basically ignore everything else going on so long as you squint really hard and pretend to make progress on an imminent event that's just over two months ago. Sure, we're just bitter, but we're struggling to understand why an agency this large can't work towards auctioning a slice of soon-to-be-freed airwaves for widespread internet use while educating consumers on the digital TV transition that's coming in February. Caving to requests from Democratic lawmakers, the FCC has canceled a December 18th meeting that would've been used to discuss the next step in making the most of white spaces, but unless we see these very suits walking the streets with signs saying "THE END IS NEAR! FEBRUARY 17TH, 2009!," we're going to be rather peeved.

[Via phonescoop]

Dell affirms plans to integrate white space radios into future wares

by Darren Murph posted Nov 6th 2008 at 8:55AM

Barely 24 hours after the FCC voted yes to unlicensed white space use, we've already got one powerhouse lined up in support. According to PC World, Neeraj Srivastava, director of technology policy at Dell, has stated that the company "intends to integrate white space radios into future Dell products." As for what "products" actually means? We could see the modules in anything from laptops to netbooks to "any other devices that provide wireless network access." Sadly, he wouldn't say when the technology would be added, but we'll go out on a limb and suggest sometime after the impending digital TV transition.

[Image courtesy of mhzkid]

FCC chairman wants to fill white spaces with broadband

by Darren Murph posted Oct 16th 2008 at 4:32AM

Good news, folks -- Kevin Martin believes that more mobile broadband is good for this nation. And we're all about getting the WiFi to the people. Just as expected, the FCC chairman has voiced his support for using vacant airwaves from the looming 2009 digital TV transition to bring mobile broadband to more areas. According to Martin: "No one should ever underestimate the potential that new technologies and innovations may bring to society." His proposal was issued ahead of an official report asserting that potential interference with existing infrastructure could be avoided if "technical safeguards" were put in place to prevent it. Sounds good from here, now go 'head with your bad self, Mr. Martin.

[Image courtesy of TechLuver]

Read - Proposal
Read - Official interference report

FCC expected to recommend unlicensed white space spectrum use

by Darren Murph posted Oct 12th 2008 at 4:59PM

The back-and-forth between mainstream carriers and external mega-corps may finally be coming to an end, with the almighty FCC expected to make a pivotal determination regarding the use of white space in short order. For those unaware, white space refers to the freed spectrum that will become available when broadcasters move completely to digital TV next February, and there's been a heated debate between carriers (who typically "fear" unwanted interference by unlicensed use) and tech companies like Google who see this as a great opportunity to bring wireless services to rural areas (for instance). According to a new report from Reuters, the FCC is expected to weigh in at any moment, and it'll "likely" recommend the unlicensed use of the spectrum. The advice will be based on reports generated from years of data collection, but we're all stuck waiting in tense anticipation until it's released. Anytime now, FCC...

[Via phonescoop]

FCC chairman dreams of free mobile internet for all Americans

by Darren Murph posted Aug 20th 2008 at 6:42PM

Just over a year ago, we were all making bitter beer faces at FCC chairman Kevin Martin for not going along with a delightful sounding "free internet" plan. Now, it seems the main man's tune has changed. During a recent interview, Martin stated that there was a "social obligation in making sure everybody could participate in the next generation of broadband services because, increasingly, that's what people want." He's reportedly looking to attach a free mobile broadband requirement to the AWS-3 spectrum that's set to be auctioned next year, which would require the winner to allocate 25% for gratis access. 'Course, we wouldn't get our hopes us for this to actually go down like it surely is playing out in your mind just now, but we won't fault you for dreamin'.

[Via phonescoop]

EC cuts a slice of spectrum for vehicle-to-vehicle communication

by Donald Melanson posted Aug 6th 2008 at 12:03PM

It seems that Dash-like devices that rely on plain old GPRS for two-way vehicle communications could one day be a bit redundant in Europe, as the European Commission has just set aside a slice of spectrum that's intended specifically to let vehicles communicate with each other. As with the Dash and other similar devices, the idea here is to give drivers a heads up about traffic jams and other potential hazards, with real-time data provided by other drivers ensuring all that info is as up to date as possible. The system, which will make use of 30MHz of spectrum in the 5.9GHz band, will also apparently allow roadside transmitters to send vital info to vehicles passing by, although exactly when that might happen is, of course, a bit unclear at the moment.

[Via The Register]

FCC may put another 25MHz of spectrum on the block for "free broadband"

by Ryan Block posted May 23rd 2008 at 9:43PM

Looks like the FCC isn't quite done collecting on spectrum auctions just yet, and Chairman Kevin Martin has apparently scheduled a vote for June 12th to decide the eventual fate of the 25MHz swath of spectrum between 2155 and 2180MHz (affectionately referred to as AWS III, despite not being three times better than AWS). Apparently whomever snags the spectrum might need to be prepared to offer a "free service tier" (define that how you will) that would reach 50% of the population in the first four years and eventually 95% of the population by the time the license expires. But that's just one possibility for what may happen to AWS III, which, of course, we'll be tracking closely. Like hawks, Kevin, like hawks.

Verizon promises to play by the 700MHz open-access rules

by Nilay Patel posted May 9th 2008 at 7:10AM

Google's been making all kinds of a fuss lately over what it claims are Verizon's plans to subvert the intent of the 700MHz open-access rules, but it looks like the carrier isn't interested in fighting it out (for once). Verizon issued a statement today saying that it "understood the FCC's rules," and that "of course we'll abide by those rules." Of course, that doesn't really mean anything until Big Red actually builds out a network and we see how it implements open-access -- which will take years -- but once again, it seems like Google is really the one in control of the 700MHz spectrum, even though it didn't win. Crafty!

700MHz auction comes to a $19.6B finish, winners still not revealed

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 18th 2008 at 5:34PM

Hear that? Yeah, that's the fat lady -- the 700MHz auction is over today, and the FCC netted $19.6B for the 1,099 licenses it put on the block. It's still not known who placed the winning $4.75B bid for the lucrative open-access 50-state C-block (probably Verizon) but hopefully we'll find out soon. There was a ton of regional action as well: a package of licenses for spectrum in Chicago went for $892.4M, another set for Newark and NYC went for $884.7M, and LA's two sets of 700MHz airwaves cost some lucky ~~punter~~ giant corporation $580.3M and $484M -- and if you'd scraped together $17K, you would be the king of the airwaves in American Samoa. Sadly, no one met the reserve for the public-safety D-block, so it looks like Uncle Sam's going to have to toss it in the back of the van and schlep it the old fashioned way. We doubt we'll know for sure who's got what until the gray suits manage to verify everything and make sure all the rules were followed, but it's still an historic day -- and remember, we've got all the info on what this could mean in the future right here.

Update: The FCC says we'll know who won what within 10 days -- it's just like waiting for Santa, only instead of a fat man giving you presents, it's a vast government bureaucracy giving major corporations thin air!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

NAB trying to get Sirius / XM to surrender spectrum?

by Nilay Patel posted Feb 7th 2008 at 9:39PM

As the recent action in the 700MHz auction has shown, wireless spectrum is a valuable commodity -- which is why it looks like the NAB and Clear Channel might drop their lawsuit against the Sirius / XM merger if the two companies agree to give up a chunk of the airwaves. Industry observers close to the deal have called this the "endgame," saying that the broadcasters have been after the spectrum all along, but we're not so sure -- we'd think that the NAB would be pretty happy if Sirius and XM decided not to get hitched after all. Still, it's an interesting tactical move, if true -- let's just hope it doesn't delay a decision on this merger even longer.