Subject: [NEXTEL-1] AT&T Wireless, Others May Get Relaxed FCC Rules for Airwave Use

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 21:46:55 -0500

AT&T Wireless, Others May Get Relaxed FCC Rules for Airwave Use
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10/30 18:12
AT&T Wireless, Others May Get Relaxed FCC Rules for Airwave Use
By Katherine Reynolds Lewis

Boulder, Colorado, Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Wireless
Services Inc., Viacom Inc. and other telecommunications and media
companies may get more flexibility to use airwaves for telephone,
Internet, television and other services, a U.S. regulator said.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is updating its
rules to let the companies employ new technology that uses the
same spectrum in innovative ways without disrupting each other's
signals, Chairman Michael Powell said in the text of a speech to
be delivered today at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

More accommodating rules would let Verizon Wireless Inc. and
others exploit existing frequencies to provide new and better
services. They also would open the door for smaller companies to
offer competing services without having to pay for frequencies.

``We must make critical decisions that balance the interests
of existing spectrum users and potential new entrants to ensure
that there is every opportunity and incentive to put spectrum to
its highest and best use for the benefit of all consumers,''
Powell said in the speech's text distributed to reporters.

The commission will start a rule-making process in December
seeking public comment on how to revamp spectrum management, he
said. Until now, the agency has auctioned frequencies for specific
purposes, such as mobile-phone calls, under rules that block the
license holder from changing the use of the airwaves.

The president of the trade group representing mobile-phone
companies like Cingular Wireless LLC called Powell ``courageous''
for attempting to draft a spectrum policy, while saying existing
companies and consumers must be protected from interference.

``It's a terrific business opportunity,'' Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association President Tom Wheeler
told reporters. Still, ``if you carry spectrum flexibility to the
nth extreme, you get spectrum anarchy.''

Changes in Use

Under revamped rules, telecommunications companies could make
changes to how they use frequencies, such as upgrading services,
without having to get prior FCC approval, Powell said.

The commission also will require that receivers meet a
certain threshold of quality, clearing the way for more services
to be offered in the same part of the spectrum, he said. Current
anti-interference rules focus only on transmitters.

``Manufacturers have developed technology that allows
receivers to sift through the noise to find the desired signal,''
he said.

Companies also should be given the right to rent spectrum to
others at times when it's not in use. For instance, a mobile-phone
service provider could lease channels from a local business when
the office is closed, Powell said.

The commission also plans to free up more parts of the
spectrum for people and companies to use without a license, for
local wireless networks or other purposes, he said.

``We are still living under a spectrum management regime that
is 90 years old,'' Powell said. ``It needs a hard look and, in my
opinion, a new direction.''

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