Meg introduces Marc Martin from K&L Gates who will moderate the afternoon panel and plans to bring some issues to the panel that are beyond the scope of typical telecom policy issues.
Thomas J. Sugrue, Vice President, Government Affairs, T-Mobile USA, Inc. starts things off with a review of recent industry forays into 3G service. He sees the wireless industry on the edge of immense technological gains and the FCC on the cusp “of screwing everything up.” T-Mobile, Thomas says, is the most spectrum-constrained mobile player, but they are working to launch the AWS spectrum. Meanwhile, there is the potential for other services to interfere in this spectrum.
Mr. Sugrue urges the FCC and all providers to udnertake due dilligence and extensive testing before entrants can move into spectrum. He also fears that the unique business plans of entrants are being adopted as rules by the FCC.
Janice Obuchowski, Chairman, Freedom Technologies, Inc. begins by presenting a specific case study that she hopes will introduce key big picture concepts: the national election. Janice believes that broadband policy will be the dominant hot spot issue in telecom policy over the next 6 months and we will be asking what candidate a or candidate b will do about it. And wireless issues will be fundamental to this debate because a new generation are asking themselves if they even need traditional wireline technologies.
Wireless technologies are the key broadband policy drivers. The “action is moving to spectrum-based broadband.” Ms. Obuchowski cites the industry shift to mobile as well (Google) and she posits that wireless technologies will be the killer app that allows for digital delivery to the world’s disenfranchised.
Policy recommendations: Spectrum is key, but regulators should enable and then get out of the way. “Avoid the political ad-hockery.”
Steve Sharkey, Director, Spectrum and Standards Strategy, Motorola, Inc. As a former FCC employee, Mr. Sharkey recalls the 1st generation technologies that the Commission once dealt with are now in their 3rd or 4th generation. The advances in technology are driven by data demands and advanced iterations of technologies are consistently compressed. He sees exponential growth in wireless and the increasing need for standards bodies (both domestic and international) to seek out and utilize efficient spectrum.
“Technology has advanced to the point where we can use that spectrum very dynamically without interfering with incumbent users.” Motorola is developing the dynamic technologies needed to achieve these gains. One of the key challenges is the need for a stable regulatory environment. As technologies advance and the need for new spectrum increases, the regulatory environment needs to keep up.
Terri Natoli, Vice President of Federal Affairs, Clearwire. Picking up on the talk of advancing technologies and the compression of such advances, Terri says that Clearwire hopes to be moving into 4G by the end of the year. She presents details on the Clearwire/Sprint national wireless network and many of the restrictions and restrains on the network, for example, 60% of spectrum is only available through long-term lease from educational licensees. Reporting on Wimax testing in Portland, Oregon, Terri reports successful results and Atlanta, Grand rapids, and Minneapolis are next.
Ross D. Vincenti, Senior Counsel, Sprint Nextel Corp will “lift the veil” on the processes involved in the Sprint/Clearwire deal. Ross recalls being involved in the early stages of the Wimax deployment and facing an uphill battle in explaining to consumers what Wimax was. Additionally, the deal would require seven companies, billions of dollars, and multiple objectives, aka “the impossible.” The plan began with a joint venture between Sprint and Clearwire that was eventually put on the back-burner. They would have to turn up the heat and work on Christmas day to get everyone in the same room and move the negotiations to the forefront. 80% of the issues all the parties had were cleared up in the early stages, but the last 20% were tough.
In the end, they’ve created a new public company, the first to deploy a nationwide wireless broadband network in the US. This was something that Sprint could not do alone. Costs are estimated at 5 to 8 billion dollars and the time to market for a lone party would be too long given the competition of LTE. And all the parties bring there own value-added: Google brings applications/software and the cable companies bring content.
Tags: Clearwire, Motorola, New Clearwire, Spectrum Reform, Sprint, Wimax
