MMDS LICENSEES URGE FCC TO MOVE AHEAD ON MORE FLEXIBLE RULES

Policy items Sugrue said were “do-able” in next 6 months included survey of MMDS and ITFS licensees to provide better sense of who was in band, what their operations looked like and generally to help clean up FCC’s database in that area. “It’s hard to know how you're going to reform something if you don’t really know what’s going on out there,” he said. On later panel, BellSouth Senior Dir.-Market Development William Andrle asked whether pending survey “is French for ‘audit,'” process that resulted in unused call signs’ being pulled back by FCC from private wireless and public safety operators below 512 MHz. Deputy Bureau Chief Kathleen O'Brien-Ham said point of exercise was to figure out what was in band and to update database. In other areas, Sugrue said that FCC last year, as part of taking MMDS and ITFS bands off table in 3G decision process, added mobile allocation in bands that previously were restricted to fixed wireless. He said Commission was anxious to move ahead on proposed service rules so that if “the technology and marketplace want to put some mobile uses in there we have a regulatory framework that will facilitate that and enable that.” Sugrue said he hoped mobile service rules also would tie into operational and technical rules on which industry has been working up proposal. Bureau officials also said they planned to clean up backlog of pending ITFS and MMDS applications.

Several industry officials cited need for FCC to provide certainty to industry on remaining MMDS spectrum that still was under evaluation as providing possible area for 3G services. That spectrum covers MDS Ch. 1 and 2 and is at 2150-2162 MHz. But compared with last year, when possible relocation of entire ITFS and MMDS bands hung over industry, attention at this year’s show has turned more to need to deploy self-installation kits for fixed wireless broadband systems and impact of downturn in capital markets.

On regulatory side, Paul Sinderbrand, Washington counsel to WCA, told us that group of 30 engineers had been holding phone conferences twice weekly to iron out technical aspects of proposed operational rule changes. Point is to provide more flexibility in band than current rules now allow because they were developed before wide array of low-power and high- power operations had grown in band, including data and upstream video applications. Thrust of group’s work is to address current regulations that are overly protective while providing interference protection to broad array of operators in band. While changes are needed in light of FCC’s provision of 2-way data services in band in 1998, Sinderbrand said group also was focusing on how to accommodate mobile uses that FCC has approved. Once petition for rulemaking is received, Sugrue said, Commission would move ahead with notice of proposed rulemaking.

“The rules have slowly changed in certain areas, but the technology has just gone crazy,” said George Harter, Marconi dir.-broadband engineering. “We have moved from an analog video world to high-speed data, Internet, voice-over-IP, all sorts of new technologies. We need new rules that will allow that technology to be changed in a flexible way.” When ITFS service was established nearly 30 years ago, technology for receivers wasn’t yet advanced enough to filter in way to allow adjacent channels to come at them from different locations, said Michael Kelly, pres., George Mason U. Instructional Foundation. Since then, electronics and filtering have gotten better and colocation has occurred in many cities where operators are transmitting from same tower, said Kelly, who is also CEO of Capitol Connection, which runs video broadcast of FCC meetings.

“To the extent that MMDS and ITFS services can be similar to some of the other services that we license in the fixed commercial arena, I think we would like to have similar regulation or deregulation that applies to these bands,” Ham said in response to question on how Wireless Bureau might approach those licenses differently from way Media Bureau had before. “That’s something we are going to be taking a hard look at.” She said Wireless Bureau particularly had embraced flexibility for spectrum: “If there’s more flexibility to be had here, I think that’s something we are going to look at.” D'Wana Terry, chief of bureau’s Public Safety & Private Wireless Div., also said Wireless Bureau had proved itself “backlog buster” in past. Bureau has inherited backlog in this area for applications and legal proceedings, she said.

Several panelists said issue of ITFS spectrum’s being interleaved with MMDS licensees was similar to band plan now under reconsideration at FCC to mitigate problems for public safety licensees that are interwoven with commercial operators at 800 MHz. At least one participant compared band plan for ITFS with black keys on piano, with MMDS representing rest. Sugrue said FCC had at one point viewed interleaving as potentially acceptable for noncommercial groups to “piggyback” onto commercial operations. “Without saying that was a bad idea at the time, the way life developed over the years, at least in that [800 MHz] band it was questionable,” he said. Because of value of 190 MHz of spectrum in MMDS and ITFS bands, he said, “we think we need to do some regulatory changes.” -- Mary Greczyn

WCA 2002 Notes…

Sprint Senior Vp-Corporate Strategy & Development Liane Pelletier told WCA show Tues. that company’s “total access solution” for communications would include its Tier 1 Internet backbone, mobile 3G network, national long distance network and local networks. She said strategy would “perhaps” include fixed wireless, then said it would “hopefully include fixed wireless.” “We truly hope that next-generation technology in 2.5 GHz band becomes a viable part of Sprint’s technology mix but we know, as you know, that the clock is ticking and the challenges are mounting,” she said. “Potential market share is shrinking every time a customer plugs in a cable modem or buys a DSL line.” As addressable market contracts, “the economics become more suspect and frankly less appealing,” Pelletier said. “Other bands of spectrum could be available soon and may add competition to the services we envision could be provided in the 2.5 GHz band,” she said. Pelletier cited Wi-Fi and campus-based CDMA as potentially increasing competitive pressures on services at 2.5 GHz. She said industry must improve technology, advocate for more flexible regulations and build business coalitions. Specifically, Pelletier called for elimination of line-of-sight limitations to make MMDS “viable” access solution. “In addition, next-generation MMDS technology has to be able to transmit signals through walls and windows, including in areas of dense foliage,” she said. Pelletier also stressed theme of portability that emerged frequently throughout first day of conference. Point is that with mobile allocation that FCC has allowed for MMDS band, operators no longer are confined to roof-top equipment. Portable solution would allow customers to maintain broadband connection on system outside their home as part of “seamless” network, she said. Devices also must be self-installed, plug-and-play for consumers, she said. After company said last fall that for now it no longer would acquire new MMDS customers, Sprint pledged to test next-generation technologies. One trial is under way in Houston with Navini technology that involves portable, self-installed technology in cellular range, Pelletier said. Separate trial is in Montreal with IP Wireless that uses technology using fixed, portable and mobile services, including high data rates over large coverage areas, she said.

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Panel of CEOs at WCA show Tues. generally agreed that capital markets for next 12 months would remain fairly gruesome for fixed wireless operators, although most were bullish on mid- to long-term outlook. “For the next year, it’s going to be a very, very brutal environment,” said Winstar CEO Brian Finkelstein, who said he expected 5-year outlook to be more stable. Neil Mullholland, CEO of Prairie iNet, said he expected financial environment to continue to be tough over next 12-18 months, although he said his company hadn’t had to pull back from any of small to medium-sized markets it had pursued in Iowa and Ill. in last 2 years.