How to Sell the Airwaves?

HOW TO SELL THE AIRWAVES?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Kim Hart]
The airwaves that carry billions of calls, text messages and e-mails have become one of the hottest corporate properties. Not only are they in demand by a nation of 240 million mobile-phone users, they are also in short supply. Soon, one of the last available sections of airwaves -- and one of the most attractive -- will be sold, and the issue of how to manage that sale has become the focus of debate. The Federal Communications Commission is overseeing the auction of a portion of the radio frequency spectrum once used by television broadcasters, and this week drafted rules for the sale. The auction, scheduled for January, is expected to raise at least $15 billion, with bidders ranging from start-ups to established phone companies. Companies and policymakers have different ideas on how to allocate the airwaves. The battle pits software firms against traditional telecom carriers, Republican commissioners against Democratic, and phone companies against cable companies. To complicate matters, police and other public safety organizations also have a stake in the auction as they push for a national network that would allow all first responders to communicate with each other.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR200707...
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COMPETITION HAS A DIFFERENT MEANING IN THE US
[SOURCE: GigaOM, AUTHOR: Om Malik]
[Commentary] Broadband competition has two entirely different meanings depending on where you reside ­ inside or outside of United States. For rest of the planet, competition means opening up the existing networks, forcing the incumbents to share the last mile resources with the upstarts, so to speak. In the US, it means creating a brand new network, something that has been a pet project of suddenly competition-happy FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Martin (version 2.0) has been pushing for the open networks in the 700 MHz band of wireless spectrum that is going to be available soon, once the television companies switch from analog broadcasts to digital broadcasts. His attempts, twisted at best, are particularly grating because he helped create the duopoly that is pushing the Google Block (Verizon’s words, not mine) to lobby for open access on this new network. Not that the Google Block doesn’t have its own (and not consumer’s) vested interests behind their bid.
http://gigaom.com/2007/07/12/competition-has-a-different-meaning-in-the-...

* Auction rules could dim prospects of wireless broadband competition (Associated Press)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/latestheadlines/ci_6359708

PUBLIC SAFETY GROUPS SUPPORT 700 MHZ AUCTION, NETWORK PARTNERSHIPS
[SOURCE: TelecomWeb]
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) finally have revealed their stance on the upcoming 700 MHz auction, supporting establishing a nationwide public-safety broadband network that uses both a portion of the 700 MHz spectrum allocated for public safety and spectrum assigned to a commercial entity via the auction. "This statement reiterates our support for using the FCC's auction mechanism as a means to promote a viable public-private partnership to achieve a nationwide public safety broadband network," says APCO International President Wanda McCarley. The two groups add, "Although the public-safety community recognizes that the type of public/private partnership contemplated herein presents certain novel regulatory issues, encumbering a portion of the commercial 700 MHz spectrum with obligations to provide public safety with needed critical broadband communications capabilities, and permitting public safety and a commercial network operator to combine certain portions of their licensed spectrum holdings in a shared network, represents the only currently realistic potential alternative to deliver a viable, affordable, self-sustaining route to meet the 21st century communications of public safety."
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/24198.html

* Former FBI chief joins wireless auction group
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1221981120070713