On his blog, Peter Nowak bemoans the FCC leaving Canada in the dust, but he and a few others appear to be confused about some of the facts behind the FCC’s recent statements on wireless frequency allocations and the ability to roam between networks.
Let’s start by looking at what the FCC actually did say on on July 31. Their statements affect the 700 MHz band (currently used by UHF TV channels 60-69). This is a band that has not yet been designated for advanced mobile services internationally, but this FCC endorsement makes it highly likely that other countries will follow suit.
However, it is going to be 4 years before those frequencies are available in Canada which has set a deadline of August 31, 2011 for analog TV to vacate the band (the US will be clear just 18 months from now in February, 2009).
The current Industry Canada consultation is for a very different band – in the 2GHz Range. The FCC had no open access requirements for the spectrum that is currently under consideration.
Despite the fact that so many people (including my friend Alec Saunders) are concerned that the current (and seemingly each) auction is for “the last remaining beach-front property”, the 700MHz band is evidence that there is more spectrum continually being cleared for applications, such as mobile services, as demand warrants. [I’ll have more to say about Alec’s recent jabs in a follow-up post]
Further, the posting confuses open access with technical realities:
In other words, if a consumer buys a mobile phone, it will work on AT&T;’s network, on Verizon’s network, T-Mobile’s network, etc.
Sorry. CDMA phones will still not be able to magically operate on GSM networks and vice-versa. Further, there is nothing I have seen from the FCC that will prevent carriers from continuing to lock subsidized phones – I have written about this problem in the past and questions of who owns my phones continue to trouble me.
What the FCC actually said is that for one of bands being auctioned, customers will be able to attach the device and run the applications of their choice, subject to reasonable network safeguards:
The licensees of the Upper 700 MHz Band C Block of spectrum will be required to provide a platform that is more open to devices and applications. This would allow consumers to use the handset of their choice and download and use the applications of their choice in this spectrum block, subject to certain reasonable network management conditions that allow the licensee to protect the network from harm.
Commissioner Deborah Tate’s statement helps clarify the purpose of the these network safeguards.
We should not underestimate the value of reasonable requirements established by a network operator to protect its network and allow for compliance with its regulatory obligations, such as an obligation to provide e911 service.
None of us would want an e911 call to go unanswered because it could not find its way through a maze of movie and music downloads, or malicious software. Thus, the network operator must be able to reasonably manage the foreign applications on its network.
By the way, there is also nothing that prohibits someone from doing this to existing spectrum or using any of the other blocks in the 700 MHz band to be opened up the same way.
As attractive as an open access set-aside may be for a portion of the spectrum, Industry Canada needs to reject suggestions that it delay the AWS auction rule making.
Consumers shouldn’t have to wait.