Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Industry mulls FCC's spectrum policy changes

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 12:25:14 -0500

Policy Changes
Could Boost New Technology

By Brad Smith
Wireless Week
November 18, 2002

The FCC Spectrum Policy Task Force's recommendations may get high
marks for innovative thinking and many technologies and models
exist to make them work. The question may be how quickly some of
them may come to fruition.

When Chairman Michael Powell unveiled the FCC's thinking in a
Boulder, Colo., speech Nov. 4, he raised the possibility of using
software-defined radios, the rental of certain spectrum bands or
"white space," sensory or adaptive devices that could find unused
spectrum, as well as other spectrum enhancement technologies.

These technologies and policies have been under development for
years in wireless telecommunications, but haven't made much
headway until now. The FCC's endorsement of them could spur a
whole new industry.

"The promise that Powell was saying is that technology will allow
us to do more and more with the spectrum we have," says Peter
Mannetti, former Qwest Wireless CEO and now managing director of
the venture capital company iSherpa.

Mannetti, however, warns that technology by itself is not the
whole answer to the nation's spectrum policy. Still, he says, "the
commercialization of good technology is something that needs to be
fostered and encouraged by the FCC. I, for one, would love to see
the FCC do more things to encourage the development of technology
whether through a direct subsidy or through competitions that see
what kind of innovative thinking can be done."

Of course, one of the technologies Mannetti would like to see put
on a front-burner is being developed by an iSherpa
investment-TensorComm of Denver. The company is developing CDMA
spectrum enhancement technologies at the chip level. It aims at
one of Powell's leading spectrum bugaboos-interference.

TensorComm says its technology will allow CDMA carriers to expand
network capacity, coverage and data rates while decreasing
infrastructure costs and spectrum purchases.

Smart antennas and software defined radios also could effectively
"expand" existing spectrum by cutting down on interference. Both
have been in development for years but haven't had much impact.
One of the reasons is the increased cost they would bring because
they would make the infrastructure, particularly handsets, more
complex.

SDRs have been touted for their ability to handle roaming,
configuring a handset for use in different networks, but its
utility has been questioned when multiple frequency bands are
involved. Besides complexity and cost, SDRs likely would be power
hogs.

Still, SDR has been moving slowly ahead. Recently, the Software
Defined Radio Forum published an open-source reference design for
the radios to ensure interoperability between manufacturers. The
FCC also has adopted rules to encourage the adoption of the
technology.

As Mannetti says, "Only time will tell what the best use of the
spectrum is, but as technology improves and you can do more with
it . perhaps even more of it can be mined."

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Share the magic of Harry Potter with Yahoo! Messenger
http://us.click.yahoo.com/4Q_cgB/JmBFAA/46VHAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/