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<h1 property="dc.title">Tech, telecom giants take sides as FCC
proposes large public WiFi networks</h1>
<h3 property="dc.creator"> By <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/cecilia-kang/2011/02/28/ABFs9eL_page.html"
rel="author">Cecilia Kang</a>, <span class="timestamp
updated processed" epochtime="1359937260000"
datetitle="published" pagetype="leaf" contenttype="article">Monday,
February 4, <span class="time special">1:21 AM</span></span>
</h3>
<p>The federal government wants to create super WiFi networks
across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that
consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet
without paying a cellphone bill every month.</p>
<p>The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission has
rattled the $178 billion wireless industry, which has launched
a fierce lobbying effort to persuade policymakers to
reconsider the idea, analysts say. That has been countered by
an equally intense campaign from <a moz-do-not-send="true"
data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=GOOG">Google</a>,
<a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=MSFT">Microsoft</a>
and other tech giants who say a free-for-all WiFi service
would spark an explosion of innovations and devices that would
benefit most Americans, especially the poor. </p>
<p>The airwaves that FCC officials want to hand over to the
public would be much more powerful than existing WiFi networks
that have become common in households. They could penetrate
thick concrete walls and travel over hills and around trees.
If all goes as planned, free access to the Web would be
available in just about every metropolitan area and in many
rural areas. </p>
<p>The new WiFi networks would also have much farther reach,
allowing for a driverless car to communicate with another
vehicle a mile away or a patient’s heart monitor to connect to
a hospital on the other side of town. </p>
<p>If approved by <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/fcc-may-auction-tv-airwaves-to-wireless-carriers/2012/09/06/011c8d9a-f86b-11e1-a073-78d05495927c_story.html">the
FCC</a>, the free networks would still take several years to
set up. And, with no one actively managing them, connections
could easily become jammed in major cities. But public WiFi
could allow many consumers to make free calls from their
mobile phones via the Internet. The frugal-minded could even
use the service in their homes, allowing them to cut off
expensive Internet bills.</p>
<p>“For a casual user of the Web, perhaps this could replace
carrier service,” said Jeffrey Silva, an analyst at the Medley
Global Advisors research firm. “Because it is more plentiful
and there is no price tag, it could have a real appeal to some
people.”</p>
<p>The major wireless carriers own much more spectrum than what
is being proposed for public WiFi, making their networks more
robust, experts say.</p>
<p>Designed by <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/julius-genachowski/gIQAHAht9O_topic.html">FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski</a>, the plan would be a global
first. When the U.S. government made a limited amount of
unlicensed airwaves available in 1985, an unexpected explosion
in innovation followed. Baby monitors, garage door openers and
wireless stage microphones were created. Millions of homes now
run their own wireless networks, connecting tablets, game
consoles, kitchen appliances and security systems to the
Internet.</p>
<p>“Freeing up unlicensed spectrum is a vibrantly free-market
approach that offers low barriers to entry to innovators
developing the technologies of the future and benefits
consumers,” Genachowski said in a an e-mailed statement. </p>
<p> Some companies and cities are already moving in this
direction. Google is providing free WiFi to the public in the
Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and parts of Silicon Valley.
</p>
<p>Cities support the idea because the networks would lower
costs for schools and businesses or help vacationers easily
find tourist spots. Consumer advocates note the benefits to
the poor, who often cannot afford high cellphone and Internet
bills.</p>
<p>The proposal would require local television stations and
other broadcasters to sell a chunk of airwaves to the
government that would be used for the public WiFi networks. It
is not clear whether these companies would be willing to do
so.</p>
<p>The FCC’s plan is part of a broader strategy to repurpose
entire swaths of the nation’s airwaves to accomplish a number
of goals, including bolstering cellular networks and creating
a dedicated channel for emergency responders. </p>
<p>Some Republican lawmakers have criticized Genachowski for his
idea of creating free WiFi networks, noting that an auction of
the airwaves would raise billions for the U.S. Treasury. </p>
<p>That sentiment echoes arguments made by companies such as <a
moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=T">AT&T</a>,
T-Mobile, <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=VZ">Verizon
Wireless</a>, <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=INTC">Intel</a>
and <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=QCOM">Qualcomm</a>,
in a letter to the FCC staff late last month, that the
government should focus its attention on selling the airwaves
to businesses.</p>
<p>Some of these companies also cautioned that a free WiFi
service could interfere with existing cellular networks and
television broadcasts.</p>
<p>Intel, whose chips are used in many of the devices that
operate on cellular networks, fears that the new WiFi service
would crowd the airwaves. The company said it would rather the
FCC use the airwaves from television stations to bolster
high-speed cellular networks, known as 4G.</p>
<p>“We think that that spectrum would be most useful to the
larger society and to broadband deployment if it were
licensed,” said Peter Pitsch, the executive director of
communications for Intel. “As unlicensed, there would be a
disincentive to invest in expensive networking equipment and
provide users with optimal quality of service.”</p>
<p> <a moz-do-not-send="true" data-xslt="_http"
href="http://washpost.bloomberg.com/market-news/stockdetail?symbol=CSCO:US">Cisco</a>
and other telecommunications equipment firms told the FCC that
it needs to test the airwaves more for potential interference.</p>
<p>“Cisco strongly urges the commission to firmly retreat from
the notion that it can predict, or should predict <span>. . .</span>
how the unlicensed guard bands might be used,” the networking
giant wrote.</p>
<p> Supporters of the free-WiFi plan say telecom equipment firms
have long enjoyed lucrative relationships with cellular
carriers and may not want to disrupt that model.</p>
<p>An FCC official added that there is little proof so far that
the spectrum that could be used for public WiFi systems would
knock out broadcast and 4G wireless signals.</p>
<p>“We want our policy to be more end-user-centric and not
carrier-centric. That’s where there is a difference in
opinion” with carriers and their partners, said a senior FCC
official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the
proposal is still being considered by the five-member panel. </p>
<p>The lobbying from the cellular industry motivated longtime
rivals Google and Microsoft to join forces to support the
FCC’s proposal. Both companies would benefit from a boom in
new devices that could access the free WiFi networks. </p>
<p>These companies want corporations to multiply the number of
computers, robots, devices and other machines that are able to
connect to the Internet, analysts said. They want cars that
drive themselves to have more robust Internet access. </p>
<p>More public WiFi, they say, will spur the use of “millions of
devices that will compose the coming Internet of things,” the
firms wrote in their comment to the FCC last week.</p>
<p>“What this does for the first time is bring the prospect of
cheap broadband, but like any proposal it has to get through a
political process first,” said Harold Feld, a vice president
at the public interest group Public Knowledge. </p>
<p> <strong> </strong> </p>
<p> More technology stories: Google Fiber provides faster
Internet and, cities hope, business growth 3-D printers could
bring manufacturing to your home office Does Apple have an
innovation problem? </p>
<p> Sign up today to receive #thecircuit, a daily roundup of the
latest tech policy news from Washington and how it is shaping
business, entertainment and science.<br>
© The Washington Post Company</p>
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