ClearSky’s Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and the Radio Access Network (RAN) are bundled in a variety of ways to accelerate and simplify launch of LTE services. As the three largest U.S. carriers rapidly build LTE networks, regional carriers benefit by not having to bear the high costs of implementations on their own. Participating carriers are able to offer 4G data services, high-speed and low costs to rural subscribers keeping pace with the large carriers.

According to ClearSky, the LTE Services Suite includes: hosted EPC, RAN, integrated billing and provisioning, and installation and ongoing support. Customers are able to scale the EPC to support very small numbers of base stations or an unlimited number. The RAN is designed using the latest technology with an eye on reducing size and cost. The RAN provides a wide range of features including macro/micro/pico cell configurations that simultaneously support LTE, GSM/UMTS and CDMA.

On launch day, ClearSky’s CEO Bill Poellmitz said, “We are working diligently to address every aspect of the LTE network deployment and operations so that our carrier clients can deliver the best possible user experience to their subscribers. Not only will our clients have access to superior network technology and support services, but our commitment to an open LTE ecosystem of devices and roaming partners will ensure access to all the key services needed to build the converged 4G network of the future.”

Read the release.

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The House bill contains language in Section 4105 that prevents the FCC from restricting who can bid in a spectrum auction, i.e. it states that the commission cannot set up auction parameters to prevent tier-one operators from winning the entire auction. The bill also restricts the commission’s authority to set aside spectrum for unlicensed uses.

Of note, the majority in the House has publicly stated that they believe the parameters they are imposing on the commission will generate more revenue for the U.S. Treasury. However, thus far they have refused to cap the amount of money that will be paid to broadcasters to incentivize their vacating their current spectrum holdings.

The first panel consisted of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Reed Hundt, who served as FCC Chairman from 1993-1997 and led the commission during its first spectrum auction. The panel was in agreement that the current House bill will stiffly innovation and industry growth.

Sen. Kerry said that the proposed language is putting the future of the next generation of Wi-Fi at risk. He said that currently 65% of tablet users access Wi-Fi networks to access the Internet, and this number is only expected to grow. Sen. Kerry believes that the auction parameters should maximize the market potential, not just the revenue for the treasury. He stressed that the expert agency, the FCC, should be making the decisions on how to maximize the benefits of the auction, not politicians.

Sen. Moran spoke about the real implication that the House bill, as written today, would prevent job growth through innovation. He stressed his interest in technology came from the work being done in Kansas and other rural areas with startup companies who are innovating every day. Sen. Moran maintains that the FCC has done an acceptable job in the past managing auctions and they should be allowed to continue to do so.

Hundt pointed out many flaws contained in the current House language. The work that innovators have already done is how America has been established a leader in technology, especially as it relates to the unlicensed market. Hundt warned congressional leaders not to accept a bad bill in order to pass the rest of the package.

The next panel featured both technical experts and consumer advocates. Rusty Irvin is the CEO of StratusWave Communications, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP) in West Virginia. Because of West Virginia’s unique topography, Irvin maintains that his company is only able to operate in concentrated urban areas for hospitals and schools. StratusWave would like to push further into unserved areas, but is unable to do so until more effective technology becomes available.

Yochai Benkler, Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard University, spoke about the different business models for unlicensed spectrum. In a draft paper released yesterday, he calls for increased access to unlicensed spectrum for companies, and that the government must balance the need for the primary vs. secondary markets. He listed the explosion of industries that now depend on unlicensed spectrum, from UPS fleet management, to smart grid companies, to home health monitoring and mobile payments through RFID technology. He believes the need for unlicensed spectrum will only increase as technology is moving away from strictly cellular technology to more unregulated arenas.

Mark Cooper, director of research for Consumer Federation of America, released a study this fall stating that unlicensed spectrum consumer benefits exceed $50 billion per year. The study goes on to suggest that consumers’ use of Wi-Fi at home or in “hot spots” actually benefits cellular companies by offloading traffic that would otherwise clog the network. Additionally, he cited similar machine-to-machine benefits that Benkler had identified earlier.

James Assey, senior vice president for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, spoke of the innovative ways the cable industry has been enabling its customers to have access to Wi-Fi hot spots even when end users travel outside their home area. Cablevision started the trend in 2008 and many companies are following suit. Assey cited the explosion of content as one of the main drivers in the need for unlicensed spectrum.

The final panelist, Peter Stanforth, chief technology officer for Spectrum Bridge, spoke about his company’s efforts to expand white space usage. Last week, Spectrum Bridge launched the first live commercial whites spaces network in Wilmington, N.C,. that will enable applications such as enabling telemetry, remote security and remote utility monitoring. Stanforth stressed that this is just the beginning of possibilities for white spaces technology, yet the House is seeking to end these efforts before they get off the ground.

In related news, earlier this week I attended an event for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who along with Senators Kerry, Moran and Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent leadership a letter regarding the current language in the House bill. These Senators, who are seen as leaders when it comes to technology in the Senate, called on the House to rethink their current direction because of the damage that will be caused to the development of new technology.

Sen. Snowe expressed disbelief that the House would choose to tie the commission’s hands in such a way to prevent access to this important spectrum for small and minority businesses. Her voice is particularly important as she currently serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Additionally, the language that is currently being considered has not been fully vetted in hearings and the implications are not completely understood. This is why nearly 300 technology companies sent a letter in December to the leaders, and the Chairman and Ranking members in both chambers, calling for the repeal of the current language contained in the bill. The conferees on the Payroll Tax bill are currently meeting to try to agree on a full extension of the payroll tax cut and may try to use spectrum auctions as an offset for the costs of that tax cut.

NTCA contacted leadership offices this week also to express concern with the language contained in the House bill, which could prevent our member companies from gaining access to this valuable spectrum. Rural companies should not be shut out of this important spectrum auction and we will continue to work with policymakers to ensure NTCA member companies can participate.

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The SuperCenter is home to the alliance’s IP Multimedia System (IMS) framework.  A recent press release to announce completion of the SuperCenter describes the IMS as the key element in the delivery of a “full range of integrated Internet Protocol (IP) based multimedia services.”  The IMS core allows the independent carriers who make up the alliance to offer high-quality features and applications and a 4G LTE service to their customers in each member’s license area.

Crucial to the alliance’s members is that the IMS core enables independent carriers to protect their wireline and/or cellular business while including 4G LTE in their service offering, making true convergence of the technologies a reality.

The NOC is staffed 24-hours per day, seven days per week by NetAmerica personnel. It provides the alliance’s members with network monitoring and support.

“Completion of the world class SuperCenter is a milestone for the Alliance,” said Scott Donlea, Executive Vice President and COO of NetAmerica. “It allows members to compete on a level not possible without the Alliance and provides the services they need, together with the 24/7 support, to offer advanced services to the citizens of rural America.”

For more information, read the release.

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After separate bankruptcy proceedings last year, Dish Network now holds DBSD North America, Inc. and TerreStar Networks, Inc. and their satellite spectrum licenses. Dish recently petitioned the FCC for an ancillary terrestrial component waiver that it says it will use to provide a wireless-hybrid 4G LTE network.

In its letter to the FCC dated January 26, AT&T states that it supports Dish’s efforts to gain approval in transferring the DBSD North America and TerreStar licenses to facilitate the new service.  However, AT&T is advocating an aggressive network build out for the service, requiring network availability to 100 million people in 33 months, arguing that Dish Network should be held to the same build-out schedule as that required of LightSquared, currently waiting for FCC approval for a similar venture.

The Dish build-out schedule request also may be a very strong signal that AT&T, currently trailing rival company Verizon in controlling requisite amounts of spectrum to support high-speed Internet and video services, has eyes on buying Dish Network.

AT&T abandoned the $39 billion T-Mobile USA acquisition at the end of 2011 after the Department of Justice and the FCC both issued notices opposing the deal. Considering the reversal AT&T is making in the January 26 letter on the Dish Network petition from comments filed late last year concerning the Dish Network project, AT&T may have revealed its purchase target in its quest to attain additional spectrum.

In a January 31 Bloomberg article on AT&T and Dish Network, Stefan Anninger of Credit Suisse values the Dish spectrum at $8.6 billion, using the recently announced and pending Verizon $3.9 billion purchase from Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications of unused spectrum as his base of measure.

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The technology is particularly useful for serving less densely populated areas, such as rural areas, where most vacant TV channels can be found. The low frequencies used by the white spaces travel well through buildings and varied terrain and can operate in a 50-mile radius with a single access point.

Wilmington is using the unlicensed spectrum to service its entire “Smart City” initiative, including video surveillance, free wireless Internet access in city parks, and water monitoring solutions.

It’s been a long road for white space advocates. The FCC conducted a variety of tests of the technology and industry heavy weights such as Dell, Google and Microsoft championed the effort. In November 2008, the commission first approved the use of white spaces, with a variety of conditions in place to protect for interference with neighboring broadcast TV stations and wireless microphones. In October 2009, Spectrum Bridge launched the first white spaces trial in a rural location. Almost two years later, in August 2011, the IEEE approved the first white spaces standard.

Back in 2010, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski coined the term “Super WiFi” to refer to white spaces technology, a term that was later adopted by the industry and tech trade press, and championed by the Wireless Innovation Alliance.

But now that the technology is finally gaining mainstream name recognition and momentum, the Wi-Fi Alliance, which holds the trademark to the term “Wi-Fi,” has issued a clear warning to stop using “super Wi-Fi” to refer to white space service.  The group maintains that the underlying technology is not WiFi, and calling it such will only lead to consumer confusion. The solution? The Wi-Fi Alliance suggests the more accurate description  – “traditional Wi-Fi routers that include white space spectrum.”

On the one hand, I see their point. For instance, let’s take a look at the term “4G.” Major wireless providers have muddied the waters, using 4G to apply to a variety of technologies from mobile WiMax to HSPA+ and LTE.

As a result, it wasn’t really all that surprising when Nielsen reported last year that consumers are confused about what 4G refers to. In fact, just last week, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) approved specifications for the next generation of wireless broadband.

Both LTE Advanced and WiMAX 2 meet the 100 Mbps speed standard, and can provide speeds up to 500x faster than typical 3G connections while using spectrum much more efficiently. The ITU standards setting body calls this 4G but the industry will have to call it something else since they call the previous iterations of WiMAX and LTE their 4G offerings. Talk about consumer confusion.

On the other hand, I’m not really sure it matters how we refer to each generation of wireless technology  — or white spaces vs. Wifi — as long as the industry is consistent and clear about the devices, applications and real-world network speeds.

With white spaces technology, the customer will be outfitted with a special WiFi router that will operate in this new spectrum band. From his perspective, it will be faster than traditional WiFi and receive a stronger signal through walls.

Consumers don’t need to grasp the underlying technology, but they do not to be able to differentiate one service over another and understand the resulting benefits.

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Additionally, the higher priced Exede comes with a few restrictions that have customers less-than-thrilled with the service. While the bandwidth is larger than before, the daily usage is capped. Called the “fair access policy or FAP,”  the bandwidth  cap is set to a lower total bandwidth than existing customer’s WildBlue service.

Considering the high cost for satellite service and a need to add new customers quickly, it is likely that any additional increase in speed or relaxation of the FAP restrictions will take time. Any improvement is good except when it comes with a crippling restriction.

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According to Verizon Director of Product Development, Home Monitoring and Control Ann Shaub, most customers opt-in to the complete smart home package that includes door sensors, door locks and cameras, along with the energy package.

While Verizon doesn’t claim that use of the energy control package will save money or energy, it is clear that for most customers the added advantage is the level of security and media management the complete package performs, according to Shaub.

According to Verizon, approximately 95% of smart home customers install their own devices, although Verizon continues to work with Ingersoll-Rand for security systems and Aeon Labs for energy and thermostats.

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LightSquared‘s plans are currently on hold, waiting for approval from the FCC before it can begin operations with its wholesale partners.

To that end, the FCC last week requested public comment on a petition from LightSquared requesting a finding that global positioning systems (GPS) do not merit legal protection from interference that may occur once LightSquared becomes operational. LightSquared also released a statement encouraging the GPS device manufacturers to release details concerning how their devices performed under the government testing of the LightSquared spectrum. Although shielded by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), LightSquared urged the GPS makers to voluntarily withdraw the NDAs to add clarity to the findings.

Also last week, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa),  ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Philip Falcone, CEO of Harbinger Capital Partners, the primary investor in LightSquared, concerning “questionable” communications with his office.

According to Sen. Grassley, he has been asked to tone down and back away from his investigation and criticisms regarding the FCC handling of the petitions and requests for operations by LightSquared. Sen. Grassley described a conversation with Todd Ruelle, chairman and CEO of Fine Point Technologies. Mr. Ruelle is alleged to have remarked that his company “only gets paid if the deal goes through.”  Mr. Ruelle then apparently commented that a call center would be built in Iowa, once LightSquared received the go ahead to operate its network. Mr. Grassley indicated that he would not pull back.

In an article published by TR Daily, Mr. Falcone was reported to have disavowed the suggestions and behaviors of Mr. Ruelle, indicating that Mr. Ruelle was acting entirely on his own.

Staff members from the FCC recently met with Sen. Grassley in a two-and-a-half-hour meeting concerning LightSquared.

In a related story: AT&T issued recommendations in an ex parte filing concerning the Dish Network’s request for an ancillary terrestrial component waiver similar to the waiver granted to LightSquared, and approval of license transfers that would allow Dish Network to begin operating a 4G LTE satellite/terrestrial hybrid network.

AT&T indicates that Dish Network should be held to the same build-out requirements as LightSquared and that Dish should adhere to the same performance standards. AT&T asked the FCC to hold Dish to the same 700 Mhz interference rules applicable to other 700 Mhz licenses.

AT&T said that like LightSquared, Dish should provide terrestrial coverage for 100 million people in 33 months and 260 million people in 69 months. AT&T also indicated that the Commission should “reject calls to impose on Dish the same unlawful and anticompetitive spectrum use restrictions as were adopted in the Harbinger/SkyTerra Order.” The order restricted SkyTerra from providing any bandwidth via the terrestrial network to the top two wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon, without first gaining approvals from the FCC. Also under the order, SkyTerra was forced to restrict access to its terrestrial network, banning access to AT&T and Verizon in economic areas that carry more than 25% total data traffic absent approval from the FCC.

AT&T is quoted as saying that such restrictions and barriers to specific companies “would be anticompetitive, discriminatory, and the height of arbitrary and capricious.”

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The report, written by Jim Kohlenberger, president of JK Strategies and former chief of staff in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for President Obama, highlights five core steps to insure that our collective communications future is carefully and pragmatically engineered.

The report goes on to illustrate how these five steps and additional key targets should be utilized to further achieve broader national goals. These goals include “smarter ways to grow the economy, protect our environment, improve public safety, [and] raise standards of living.” In addition required initiatives like enabling the smart grid, advancing smart cities, accelerating smart transportation, building smart infrastructure, delivering smart health care, constructing better buildings and infusing connected intelligence into the manufacturing process for a brighter connected future.”

According to Mobile Future Chair Jonathan Spalter, “Machine-to-machine technologies hold the promise of transforming how our economy and communities will connect and interact.” He added, “But policy makers must act now to make more spectrum available to ensure that Americans fully benefit from tomorrow’s tremendous mobile possibilities.”

Read the report.

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Spectrum Bridge supports this cloud-based technology with its FCC certified spectrum management technology. Those residents of New Hanover County in range of the deployment area will have access to several useful implementations including telemetry, remote security and remote utility monitoring in addition to other applications.

“We are extremely pleased with the installations of the white spaces systems at our parks and gardens,” said Chairman of New Hanover County Ted Davis. “This technology has proven to be an unobtrusive, environmentally friendly way to offer services to our citizens and the visitors at our parks and to give our staff more efficient ways to manage these locations.”

Read More.

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