Ruling Sets Back 3G Airwaves Plan
In a blow to taxpayers and the booming cell phone industry, federal regulators said Monday that they would not order schools, churches and two long-distance phone giants to abandon valuable airwaves that carriers have been seeking for advanced wireless services.
The Federal Communications Commission was considering dislodging WorldCom Inc., Sprint Corp. and 1,275 schools and churches from airwaves they control and auctioning the frequencies to companies to provide high-speed wireless Internet access and other advanced services.
The sale of those airwaves--which are now used for educational and religious broadcasting and for fixed wireless communication services by Sprint and WorldCom--was expected to raise billions of dollars for the government.
The FCC ruling is the industry’s second setback this month in a four-year quest to roll out “third-generation,” or 3G, wireless phones. Hopes for gaining control of airwaves held by the military--another potential source of advanced wireless frequencies--were dashed by this month’s terrorist attacks.
“The FCC has dug themselves and the industry in a hole,” said Roger Entner, wireless program manager at the Boston-based Yankee Group research firm. The airwaves held by the schools, WorldCom and Sprint are among the “last pieces of beachfront property” in the wireless world.
“We are disappointed the commission would limit its flexibility at this time as it seeks a solution to the spectrum shortage,” added Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn. in Washington.
Because airwaves, like land, are finite, expanding the nation’s communications capacity has proved problematic.
The FCC is said to be considering whether to raise limits on the amount of spectrum one company can control and whether to allow communications companies to freely swap spectrum to ease the airwave crunch.
Meanwhile, Martin Cooper, chairman of ArrayComm Inc. and often referred to as the father of the cell phone from his pioneering work at Motorola Inc., has urged the FCC to require companies to use existing communications frequencies more efficiently.
The FCC appears to have taken a step in that direction Monday.
The agency gave WorldCom, Sprint and the Catholic Church greater flexibility to exploit their airwaves, including the option of leasing them to mobile phone carriers such as Verizon Wireless for 3G service. That decision could make the schools and churches--rather than taxpayers--the financial beneficiaries.
And it could potentially pit wireless carriers against Sprint and WorldCom or force them to negotiate with hundreds of schools and churches in order to amass the needed frequencies for 3G.
“The FCC and the government still need to identify and bring into the marketplace . . . airwaves specifically for 3G wireless,” said Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless.
