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Jan. 7, 2010

On Jan. 4, the Department of Justice and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration both filed requests with the FCC encouraging the federal commission to make available more wireless spectrum to help promote more competition among broadband providers.

The requests are similar in that both government agencies believe the U.S.’s best chance at a competitive marketplace for Internet broadband services lies in the wireless sector, but also warn that a careful balance must still be maintained in order that wireless service providers with older wirelines don’t end up with too much market power.

Both agencies have also questioned whether AT&T Mobility’s and Verizon Wireless’ LTE (long term evolution) wireless services will be marketed as wired Internet replacement services.

The NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) proposed the FCC take a spectrum inventory and encouraged the agency to look at both commercial and government spectrum allocations, which is interesting because NTIA manages government spectrum use.

The NTIA also questioned whether LTE services would be offered as a replacement to wired Internet access.

“The FCC must also keep in mind that the two largest U.S. wireless providers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless also offer wireline services in major portions of the U.S., raising the question of whether these mobile service providers will market these services as replacements for wireline services, either within the region where they provide wireline services or at all,” NTIA noted.

The FCC has just a little over a month to start developing its broadband plan and present it to Congress on Feb. 17.

Last month, the federal regulating commission gave a sneak preview of its soon-to-be proposed plan, which includes resolving AWS-3 and Wireless Communications Services spectrum proceedings to free up that spectrum, and studying how TV spectrum is being used today, in a post-HD TV era.

The DoJ said in a filing “for now, it is still a bit premature to predict whether the wireless broadband companies will be able to discipline the behavior of the established wireline providers, but early developments are mildly encouraging. Notably, the fact that some wireless customers are willing to abandon the established wireline providers for a mobile service carrier suggests that the two offerings may become part of a broader marketplace. However, within the next several years, the limits of wireless broadband will be tested, including the actual delivered speeds, adequacy of in-building coverage, and ability of the networks to accommodate large numbers of users.”

The Department of Justice singled out wireless carriers beyond AT&T and Verizon Wireless that may bring more competition to the marketplace.

“Although there may be other constraints on the ability of providers such as Clearwire, T-Mobile, Sprint and new start-ups to develop and deploy effective wireless systems that could provide broadband services comparable to those of existing providers, the scarcity of spectrum is a fundamental obstacle that the commission should address,” the DoJ added.

The CTIA and the Consumer Electronics Association have proposed that TV broadcasters should transition to use lower-power antennas to free up as much as 180 megahertz of additional spectrum.

It remains to be seen how all of this entails, but one thing is for sure: there is a growing number of entities and government agencies that are asking more spectrum, and they will continue to fight until they get it.

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Source: The U.S. Department of Justice.