Consumer groups suggest rules for US wireless sale

CONSUMER GROUPS SUGGEST RULES FOR US WIRELESS SALE
[SOURCE: Reuters 4/5]
A coalition of consumer groups -- including heavyweights such as Consumers Union, New America Foundation and Media Access Project -- have proposed a set of proposals aimed at ensuring that an upcoming sale of U.S. wireless airwaves will create more competition in the communications industry. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to let bidders know sometime in April exactly what kind of services can be offered using the airwaves as well as how the auction will work and provide a set of rules on how the spectrum will be divided up. "We are asking them to set auction rules so it is not just the incumbents that win," said Art Brodsky, spokesman with Public Knowledge. The coalition is proposing three rules: 1) network neutrality, 2) reserving 30 MHz as "open access" spectrum, and 3) allowing more competitors than just the major incumbents to bid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0522320220070405

* Coalition Pushes FCC For Open Spectrum Auction
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=1...

* Silicon Valley Moneymen Make a Play for Airwaves
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: John Markoff]
Some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capitalists and technology investors have joined an investment group that is preparing to challenge cellphone carriers, cable and satellite companies for valuable radio spectrum that will be freed when television broadcasters convert to digital signals. The government mandated the transition to digital, to be completed by Feb. 19, 2009, so it could reclaim a broad swath of radio spectrum and reallocate the frequencies to public safety organizations and commercial broadband networks. The venture capitalists L. John Doerr and James L. Barksdale have joined an investment group that is promoting a plan that would open a portion of the radio spectrum for both uses, through technologies flexible enough to support both next-generation wireless Internet devices and public safety emergency communications. The plan is being put forth by Frontline Wireless, formed earlier this year by Reed E. Hundt, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman. Frontline Wireless is one of several potential bidders for spectrum in the 700 MHz band, used until now by UHF television, that is being opened up by the move to digital.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09spectrum.html
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