[governance] US: FCC proposes large publkic WiFi networks; tech, telecom giants take sides

[Riaz K Tayob]

  Tech, telecom giants take sides as FCC proposes large public WiFi networks


      By Cecilia Kang
      <http://www.washingtonpost.com/cecilia-kang/2011/02/28/ABFs9eL_page.html>,
      Monday, February 4, 1:21 AM

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.

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 Google 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=GOOG>, 
Microsoft 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=MSFT> 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.

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.

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.

If approved by the FCC 
<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 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.

"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."

The major wireless carriers own much more spectrum than what is being 
proposed for public WiFi, making their networks more robust, experts say.

Designed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/julius-genachowski/gIQAHAht9O_topic.html>, 
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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

That sentiment echoes arguments made by companies such as AT&T 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=T>, 
T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=VZ>, Intel 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=INTC> and 
Qualcomm 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/marketnews/stockdetail/?symbol=QCOM>, in 
a letter to the FCC staff late last month, that the government should 
focus its attention on selling the airwaves to businesses.

Some of these companies also cautioned that a free WiFi service could 
interfere with existing cellular networks and television broadcasts.

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.

"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."

Cisco 
<http://washpost.bloomberg.com/market-news/stockdetail?symbol=CSCO:US> 
and other telecommunications equipment firms told the FCC that it needs 
to test the airwaves more for potential interference.

"Cisco strongly urges the commission to firmly retreat from the notion 
that it can predict, or should predict . . . how the unlicensed guard 
bands might be used," the networking giant wrote.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

**

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?

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