It's Silicon Valley vs. Telcos in Battle for Wireless Spectrum

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: May 16, 2007 3:58:14 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] It's Silicon Valley vs. Telcos in Battle for  
Wireless Spectrum

[Note:  This item comes from reader Randy Burge.  DLH]

It's Silicon Valley vs. Telcos in Battle for Wireless Spectrum
Frank Rose Email 05.16.07 | 2:00 AM

<http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2007/05/uhf_spectrum>

Apple's iPhone may be the most eagerly awaited gadget of the year,  
but when it finally goes on sale some time next month, only 30  
percent of US mobile phone customers -- those who subscribe to AT&T's  
wireless service -- will be able to use it. Verizon subscribers might  
have had a shot, but executives at that carrier nixed the idea of  
letting an Apple device onto their network years ago. It's as if Mac  
owners had to connect to the internet through AT&T because their  
machines wouldn't work on Verizon, Comcast or Time Warner Cable.

The wire-line internet doesn't work that way, and wireless doesn't  
have to either. By the end of this year, the FCC is expected to start  
auctioning a frequency band that could be used for a wireless network  
that any device -- be it a cell phone, laptop, desktop, TV or toaster  
-- would be able to connect to.

A proposal to build such a network has been presented by Frontline  
Wireless, a startup backed by three of Silicon Valley's biggest  
players: Venture capitalist John Doerr, Google angel investor Ram  
Sriram and one-time Netscape CEO James Barksdale. But Frontline will  
be bidding against behemoths like Cingular and Verizon, and whether  
it has a chance will be determined within the next few weeks, when  
the FCC sets the rules for the auction.

The spectrum that's coming up for grabs is prime stuff: A large, low- 
frequency band that's currently being used by UHF television  
stations, which have been ordered to vacate it when broadcasting goes  
digital in February 2009.

UHF may not be as good as VHF, which operates on even lower-frequency  
spectrum. But it has the ability to carry information through  
forests, buildings, even mountains, regardless of the weather, and  
that makes it ideal for broadband wireless, or for mobile-phone  
service. Ever wonder why Cingular and Verizon, the biggest and most  
successful U.S. carriers, can offer more reliable service than Sprint  
or T-Mobile? Because the big boys already own a large band of  
spectrum near the UHF band, while the little guys are stuck with  
spectrum that operates at double the frequency and is far less  
powerful as a result.

<snip>


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