Jesse Caulfield

“To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying the objects of enterprise, is not among the least considerable of the expedients, by which the wealth of a nation may be promoted.”

–Alexander Hamilton, Report on Manufactures, December, 1791

Another area ripe for innovation is the mobile space, he said. “I believe we have an opportunity for the U.S. to lead the world in mobile.”

Genachowski was responding to a question about white spaces, areas between TV channels that have been freed up since the digital TV transition and that companies like Microsoft and Google want to use for wireless broadband purposes.

He pledged to make sure the development of white spaces devices was a priority within the Office of Engineering and Technology at the FCC. There is the chance to “take full advantage in this country of the opportunity that spectrum use allows,” he said.

• Original Article

Maria Cantell (D-WA) wanted a progress report about the FCC’s decision to authorize the use of unlicensed “white space” devices. She called the authorization a “conservative start, but it was a start.” Will Genachowski prioritize testing to make sure the technology can roll out relatively soon?

“Senator, the answer is yes,” Genachowski replied. “I’m glad that you are mentioning another example of creative use of spectrum to advance the overall goals of the Communications Act.”

It’s clear that this Congress expects a lot of change at the FCC, and it expects its new chairman to deliver.

Original Article

• ARS Technica

President Obama’s nominee for Federal Communications Commission chairman, Julius Genachowski, has emerged from a June 16 Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee vetting with high marks. His nomination now moves to the full Senate for confirmation, which is expected with little controversy.

In his hearing, Genachowski stated that he plans to use federal economic stimulus money to bring broadband Internet services to underserved, generally rural areas. The Obama administration included $7.2 billion in funds for this purpose.

Genachowski expressed interest in a proposed Senate bill calling for the FCC to conduct a comprehensive inventory of all available frequency spectrum between 200MHz and 3.5GHz and how it is used for both licensed and unlicensed activities.

Reading between the lines, it would appear that the combination of a frequency allocation review, white spaces technology development and possible expansion of LPFM license availability may create a “perfect storm” of issues that allows the soon-to-be confirmed FCC chairman to consider a wide variety of rules and policies.

With the Obama administration on record as favoring technology development in the white spaces, expansion of broadband availability and Internet neutrality, it seems clear that the FCC will be used as an instrument of the administration’s technology, communication and, to a lesser extent, social agenda.

The FCC under Julius Genachowski will play a critical role in determining both the direction and success of our nation’s progress in broadband and wireless communications.

The FCC must make the transition from “protector of broadcasting in the public interest” to “communications technology consultant for the U.S.”

Original Article

• Broadcast Engineering

In a recent article in CED about white space, the interviewees basically say that industry isn’t sure how to use it or whether there’s near-term value.

Also, a reference to a report by Carl. T. Jones Corp on spectrum interference issues which were included in NCTA’s Petition for Reconsideration.

Interviewees:

Miguel Myhrer, senior executive and lead of the North America Wireless Network practice at Accenture

I don’t think there will be a business model day one, or even a couple years out. It will be a couple years

Steve Sharkey, senior director of regulatory and spectrum policy for Motorola.

To the extent that Wi-Fi is an 802.11 family of standards, you could certainly implement the technology in this spectrum

Jake Ward, a spokesman for the Wireless Innovation Alliance

There are industry-wide policies by the wireless carriers of not taking a position, [and] cable has said various things, mostly focusing on the idea of interference rather than having an issue of who’s going to deliver what

Marc Berejka, senior director of technology policy and strategy for Microsoft

The amount of spectrum available in rural America would be phenomenal. Developing this spectrum is “about lowering the collective cost of extending the network out to people who currently are not on the network. White space offers the opportunity to extend coverage into areas where there is none – at a low cost.

Chris Pearson, president of 3G Americas, a mobile advocacy group

Spectrum licenses cost a lot of money, so when unlicensed spectrum hits the market, it does leave some opportunities that don’t cost quite as much; but still, to do a quality build-out, you have to have a fair number of capital funds, and the markets have not been too good lately for new companies to access capital

Barry West, president and chief architect of WiMAX provider Clearwire

I’m not a big advocate of the whole unlicensed part in terms of driving a mass market. You have to have a spectrum policeman, which is usually an operator that’s looking at the quality of service and tuning it

Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the Wi-Fi Alliance

At a high level, maybe some of the operating modes could be very similar to the way that Wi-Fi works now

Mohammad Shakouri, vice president of the WiMAX Forum

It’s an excellent band because it has a long reach. We believe 700 MHz would be a band that we eventually can build WiMAX technology. The question has to do with regulation – how much power you can have. The biggest question on the white space is more regulation and policy….

Links >

• CedMagazine.com - June 01, 2009
• NCTA Petition for Reconsideration 03/19/09