Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Powell: Wireless As Third 'Wire'

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 18:14:30 -0400

Powell: Wireless As Third 'Wire'

BY MARK ROCKWELL
MAY 19, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Wireless could be the "Holy Grail" for U.S. broadband
policy, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said today at an agency-hosted
gathering of the wireless broadband industry.

Wireless broadband, Powell told attendees at the FCC's day-long Wireless
Broadband Forum, could be the third "wire" into homes next to cable and
wireline telephone. The "third wire" is the fuse that ultimately will
spark real competition for consumers, he said. The FCC is working
aggressively toward implementing new spectrum policy and fostering new
technology that will drive broadband access home to consumers, he added.

"Wireless is vital. We can't rest on any single platform," he said,
noting that cable companies and local phone companies haven't really
taken up wireless as a broadband alternative. The primary drive behind
wireless broadband, he said, is coming from entrepreneurs.

The packed meeting room at the commission backed Powell's thought.
Hundreds of smaller wireless broadband providers, as well as
representatives from huge corporations looking to invest in the
technology, made up the majority of the audience.
Owners of small- and medium-sized wireless broadband companies were
numerous. Some, such as Neil Mulholland, chief executive of Parieinet,
say they're not only serving rural and smaller communities but are
seeing a jump in business from small- and medium-sized businesses in
metropolitan areas. Mulholland says his company has dozens of business
customers in the Des Moines, Iowa, metro area, for instance.

He's not alone. Douglas Campbell, vice president of business development
for AMA Techtel, a wireless broadband provider serving areas of rural
Texas, said he sees the same. People are tired of dealing with only the
local cable or phone company for a broadband line, he said.

That was a familiar theme at the conference, with many panel
participants noting that this year wireless broadband seems to carry a
special vibrancy. "We're excited by wireless broadband," said Pierre
Vries, chief technology officer at Microsoft.  Vries said his company is
looking not to become a service or equipment provider but is intensely
interested in constructing and marketing software platforms for those
applications. It's a a golden time for wireless broadband's business
development, he said. "The technology keeps moving forward," companies
keep investing in the technology and the FCC is moving aggressively to
change policy to accommodate it, he said.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=document&doc_id=133408&verticalID=34&vertical=Business+and+Finance&industry=

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