Snowe Aide Upbeat on Spectrum Bill Next Year

Congress could move on spectrum legislation next year no matter which political party is in control, a telecom aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told a Law Seminars International conference Monday. A package of noncontroversial spectrum items could be attached to a reauthorization of the FCC’s auction authority, said the aide, Matthew Hussey. FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman urged Congress to quickly authorize incentive auctions to free up broadcaster spectrum.

It’s possible that spectrum legislation will be another “casualty” in an intensified battle between Democrats and Republicans after the election, said Hussey. But “if anything has a chance, it’s spectrum.” There’s “strong bipartisan support” for finding more spectrum for commercial wireless, and Congress will soon have to renew the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, which expires October 2012, he said. A two-to-five-year extension of that authority is a “very strong possibility,” and it could be a vehicle for a package of less controversial spectrum issues, including a spectrum inventory, he said. Hussey doesn’t expect spectrum legislation to move during the lame duck session this year, he said.

Finding 500 MHz of additional spectrum will “require some pretty hard political decisions,” warned Howard Symons, an attorney at Mintz Levin. The National Broadband Plan suggests taking spectrum from the Defense Department, public safety and broadcasters, but none of them are “pushovers,” Symons said. Hussey warned not to be “too hasty” reallocating spectrum. The FCC has some spectrum in the pipeline and carriers will be fine in the near term, he said. Technology can go a long way to stretching existing spectrum through improved efficiency, he said. Improving wireline backhaul for wireless is another key component that shouldn’t be overlooked, he said.

By authorizing incentive auctions, Congress could speed up the National Broadband Plan goal of finding 500 MHz of spectrum, said Milkman. But there’s “no single magic bullet” to getting spectrum out to the market fast, she said. Previous rollouts of spectrum have taken nearly a decade from start to finish. The important thing is to “start now,” Milkman said. It’s up to the administration to decide when to release an NTIA report about the 500 MHz goal that was due Oct. 1, Milkman said. “I imagine it will be forthcoming."

The FCC plans to be “proactive” on wireless recommendations in the plan, said Milkman. A white paper on mobile demand is due later this week, said Phoebe Yang, an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. White spaces use is “a first step to opportunistic use of radio spectrum,” and the FCC will pursue a rulemaking later this year or early next, Milkman said. Later this year, the FCC Wireline Bureau plans to release wireless and wireline broadband cost model data, Yang said. The FCC also plans to release its 15th report on wireless competition at year-end or early next year, Milkman said. The FCC is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to finish a broadband map by February, noted FCC Chief Data Officer Rob Alderfer.

The FCC is moving ahead on a spectrum inventory, even though efforts in Congress to write legislation requiring the inventory have so far failed. Alderfer said the FCC continues discussions with Congress, and the agency is acting in a manner consistent with Congress’s intent. If the legislative effort picks up again, the FCC will work with Congress, Alderfer said. The inventory will be critical to preventing a spectrum crunch, since clear information is critical to driving the market and spurring innovation, he said. Later this month, the FCC plans to upgrade its spectrum dashboard on the Internet, said Milkman. Planned new features include tracking of leases, advanced search, information on tribal lands and integration of NTIA data on federal spectrum, she said. The update this month will be minor, with a more substantial release coming in January, said Alderfer.

The FCC plans to open a rulemaking procedure “soon” on accessibility rules, responding to legislation recently signed by President Barack Obama, Milkman said. A review of hearing aid compatibility rules will start later this year, she said. The growth of the Google Android operating system for wireless devices could mollify concerns about wireless exclusives, Milkman said. Concerns seemed to center on AT&T’s contract with Apple for the iPhone, but penetration of Android devices -- available for use on all carriers -- could surpass the iPhone, she said.

Meeting the National Broadband Plan recommendation for 500 MHz of broadband spectrum will require more sharing, said Steve Sharkey, senior director of regulatory and spectrum policy with Motorola. Changes in technology are making new sharing arrangements feasible, he said noting that many of the current sharing arrangements follow strict spectrum management hierarchy. More cooperative sharing would allow more synchronization of systems and facilitate more efficient sharing, he said, but, new sharing arrangements would require primary services or incumbents to modify operations. The majority of the goals of the National Broadband Plan are really tied to wireless, Sharkey said, saying wireless even plays a key role in smart technology, making sure homes are connected properly.

Technology innovation can provide far more wireless capacity per square kilometer in a cost effective way to enable the U.S. to lead in building a major new wireless ecosystem, said Stagg Newman, principal of Pisgah Comm Consulting. But the FCC, the White House and the Congress aren’t aligned, not even the Democrats, said the former chief technologist at the FCC. As a result, the lead in developing new wireless ecosystem is like to move to the so-called BRICs countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), he said.

Newman urged use of technologies like multi-mode, multi-band smart devices, heterogeneous networks, femtocells, smart antennas, virtual and distributed networks, and distributed antenna systems, to increase wireless capacity. Developing standards and specifications for those technologies are critical, he said. But the standard creating process could be long and painful, he said, saying the reality is that most standards don’t become commercial successes. Regardless of technology, it takes at least six years from standard approval to a widely adopted technology, he said. The six key factors that determine the viability of healthy ecosystem development are the features, cost and installation of customer-premises equipment; industry structure; spectrum costs; civil infrastructure; network assets and economics, he said.