Military Frequencies Considered for Wireless Phone Industry

The Pentagon, which must fight foreign adversaries, faces a major battle with White House officials, who are urging the agency to relinquish frequencies reserved for military use to the fast-growing wireless phone industry.

Concerned that the United States is falling behind some other nations in the race to offer advanced wireless phones with high-speed Internet access, the Clinton administration wants to let the phone industry use airwaves reserved for Air Force communications, intelligence-gathering and the global positioning satellite navigational system.

Administration officials said failure to make new frequencies available for the next generation of wireless technology could doom the U.S. to second-class status in the global economy and slow the growth of the booming Internet.

The National Telecommunications and Information Agency, an arm of the Commerce Department, has asked Pentagon officials to assess by Nov. 15 the cost and complexity of letting private industry use frequencies in the 1755 to 1850 megahertz band now controlled by the military. The airwaves are highly coveted by industry because they are adjacent to those used by existing domestic wireless phone services and include frequencies that the World Radio Conference earmarked in May for next-generation wireless phones.

Administration officials are studying other frequencies, as well as considering a shared arrangement between the military and commercial operators. A decision is expected early next year but could be delayed or derailed when a new president takes office, officials said.

“The administration believes that the allocation of spectrum for [next-generation] wireless services is critical, and we are going to take a careful look at what spectrum is needed,” said Thomas A. Kalil, senior director of the White House National Economic Council.

“This is a big deal. There are over 100 million wireless phone subscribers out there already, and there could be as many as 400 million people around the world who will access the Internet with a wireless device by the year 2004.”

Making way for the technology--considered the Holy Grail of the Information Age--has major implications for national security, U.S. economic policy and taxpayers.

Defense Department officials said it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take as long as 30 years for the military to move to another part of the frequency band. What is more, the Pentagon argued, selling off military frequencies could put national security in jeopardy.

“We have . . . concerns [about the] impact on military operations and national security,” said Cindy Raiford, director of spectrum management for the Defense Department. “What we are seeking is a level playing field such that it’s not always the [Pentagon’s] spectrum that is reallocated for new technology.”

The Pentagon’s skepticism is shared by some industry analysts, who said military airwaves might not even be needed. They argued that industry could use another spectrum such as a band of television frequencies scheduled to be auctioned next winter by the federal government or airwaves in the 2110 to 2200 megahertz band, which is used by commercial satellites.

“I don’t think [the Pentagon frequencies] are necessarily the answer,” said George Reed Dellinger, an analyst with the Washington Analysis investment banking firm. Industry engineers undoubtedly will develop technology that will allow the wireless industry to use its existing airwaves more efficiently, he said.

“I think next-generation wireless will be more evolutionary than revolutionary,” he said.

The combination of the world’s two hottest technologies--wireless phones and the Internet--is expected to create a $561-billion industry in high-speed wireless Internet devices, experts said.

Although wireless access to the Internet is already offered by a number of carriers, the speed at which existing wireless phones retrieve e-mail and provide access to Web pages is one-fourth as fast as most home computers with analog modems normally transfer data over ordinary phone lines.

By contrast, a new generation of wireless phones being introduced in Europe and Asia next year are expected to transfer data at speeds three to 20 times faster.

The new high-speed wireless frequencies will push the Internet beyond its desktop computer stronghold into a new market of tiny portable devices that can fit into a shirt pocket or be worn on a wrist like a watch, proponents said. That would open up a whole new Internet world. Merchants would be able to deliver television-like ads directly to consumers as they walk past their shops and travelers would be able to call up directions on wireless devices when driving.