AT&T CEO Wants More Spectrum, Faster Review Process
DALLAS -- U.S. networks have seen a 20,000 percent increase in mobile data traffic over the past five years, and that growth could freeze in its tracks without public policy that makes enough spectrum available, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson. Getting the public policy right will drive economic growth, he told a Telecommunications Industry Association conference in his keynote.
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The U.S. has less spectrum in the pipeline than any other major country, Stephenson said Wednesday. Compared to 400 MHz of potentially usable spectrum in Japan, 350 MHz of recently auctioned spectrum in Germany, 310 MHz in the U.K., and 250 MHz in France, the FCC auction of just 50 MHz of spectrum would be divided among all the players in the industry. He was referring to Congress’s approval last year of the FCC’s auction to get 50 MHz to market. “It’s really not that significant in terms of addressing the wave of volumes that we're seeing coming our way,” Stephenson said. That relatively low number is compounded by the fact that it will take years to put it to use, while the FCC’s own estimates say demand will outstrip supply by 2013, he said. “The issue is not six to eight years from now -- the issue is right now,” he said. “We have to find near-term solutions."
There’s significant spectrum in the marketplace not being used, and the government should take action to ensure quality spectrum is “not just sitting on a shelf and not being deployed,” Stephenson said. Too much spectrum is “in the hands of speculators who have no intentions of putting the spectrum to use and building a network,” he said, commending FCC requirements for more robust buildout schedules.
Stephenson wants a faster process to review spectrum transfers. “It’s clear that more companies would be willing to sell the spectrum they hold if they had some degree of confidence the transaction could be reviewed and approved in very short order,” he said. “We've also seen some encouraging signs from the FCC here, but we think there’s a lot of work still to be done.” AT&T will do whatever it needs to do to make things move faster, Stephenson said.
Regulation moves glacially at the local level, Stephenson said, pointing to municipal approval for towers and infrastructure that “can drag out for years and years.” That slows down investment and delays benefits to customers, he said. Stephenson pointed to “significant, fast builds” for railroads and the highway system, that happened quickly because “Congress made their construction a national priority,” he said. “We believe our wireless infrastructure is every bit as critical.” He called for industry to give policymakers concrete proposals to address these issues, and said AT&T would lay out proposals soon.
AT&T has been working hard on getting high-speed broadband to “less urban” areas, Stephenson said: Whether it be Internet Protocol digital subscriber line access multipliers (CD June 4 p11), vectoring, pair-bonding, wireless, or a combination, “it’s really important that we develop some viable technological solutions” to help provide competitive high-speed broadband service to rural areas, and get to an all-IP infrastructure. That will let AT&T significantly reduce costs and help defray the investment for these projects, he said.
TIA President Grant Seiffert accused the “Washington environment” of “slowing investment down,” as he was introducing Stephenson. Seiffert expressed a need to make sure policymakers are working to move investment forward.
Genband CEO Charlie Vogt told us it’s possible to better manage and optimize current spectrum usage by offloading traffic to the fixed wireline network where possible. As more smart devices come online, it will be harder to avoid congestion within the networks, he said. Ultimately, managing customers’ expectations is carriers’ No. 1 concern, and even if spectrum starts getting deployed over several years, it could take several more years to “light it up,” he said. Carriers need spectrum released now, or they're “going to have a lot of frustrated customers."
Verizon Wireless believes a looming spectrum crisis is “an absolutely pressing public policy issue,” a spokesman said. He and reiterated the company’s support for President Barack Obama’s proposal to free up 500 MHz worth of spectrum for wireless broadband (CD June 28/10 p1). Given that auctions can take years, the spokesman said that Verizon Wireless also encourages the use of the secondary market to get the frequencies to market faster. - Matthew Schwartz