Policy Leaders Square Off; 700 Mhz Still Under Debate

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein squared off against his peers and talked spectrum auction at a panel on policy at NXTComm.

A representative for the Bush administration said the government is doing as much as it can to "get out of the way" when it comes to nurturing the telecom sector: John Kneur, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, said the current deregulation policies, fiscal approach and spectral policies have added up to a "pro-investment, pro-competition" environment that is enabling the explosion of new services and entrants, a virtuous cycle that is driving innovation and continues investment. "It puts us in a competitive advantage," he said.

But Adelstein pointed out that when it comes to the trend lines for broadband penetration and access, affordable cost per bit for broadband, and uptake of enhanced services, the United States is steadily slipping vis a vis the rest of the world. "This country has driven innovation around the world," he said. “We need to make sure that continues." Adelstein called for a comprehensive national policy – a position he also outlined last week at the Wireless Communications Association in Washington D.C.– which would include clearly defined targets, benchmarking and thresholds.

Fellow panelist David Gross, U.S. ambassador for international communications and information policy, joined Kneur in giving a rosy picture of the U.S. broadband situation, and disagreed with Adelstein's accountability idea, saying that such an approach would hamstring the free market. Adelstein countered, "no one's suggesting a command and control industrial policy." The government could however help affordable broadband access for all by having the universal service fund subsidize broadband, not just voice, giving tax credits for building out in rural areas, creating more generous depreciation schedules, and so on, he said.

The upcoming 700Mhz spectrum auction was also on the table during the panel. Adelstein acknowledged that the FCC is still debating how to structure the auction and outlined some of the thoughts surrounding that game-changing event. "We'd like to see a third channel into the home," he said, but said auctioning off large, nationwide swaths of the spectrum – previously used for television and known to have propagation characteristics ripe for developing pervasive wireless broadband – might not happen. When it comes to nationwide competitors entering the market, such as a Google or an eBay, "we've got real concerns about whether they're coming to the table. So we want to have flexibility unless we're certain we'll get a major nationwide player." Having large swaths available in their absence would be unaffordable for smaller entrants, and would give incumbents an opportunity to buy most the spectrum themselves, effectively shutting out competition.

The 700Mhz band is the "best chance we have for broadband competition," Adelstein said. Therefore, he added, it's likely there will be smaller, regionalized chunks of spectrum available for new entrants, or perhaps some kind of open access policy.

Federal Communications Commission www.fcc.gov

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