Martin: Broadband Wireless Must Be on ‘Same Footing’
FCC Chairman Urges Parity with Cable-Modem, DSL Service
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/27/2007 4:31:00 PM
Orlando, Fla. -- Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin J. Martin, speaking at the CTIA Wireless 2007 conference here, said broadband-wireless services need to be "on the same footing" as wired high-speed-Internet services from cable and telephone companies.
"It’s going to be important for consumers to develop that third broadband pipe as a competitor to DSL [digital subscriber line] and cable," he added.
Martin pointed to the FCC’s ruling issued last week, which declared that wireless-broadband Internet-access service will be treated as an information service under the Communications Act of 1934. The ruling, released March 23, means broadband-wireless services will be regulated the same way cable’s high-speed services are, rather than as traditional telecommunications services.
Martin said it was "critical" that broadband-wireless services receive "the same lighter regulatory treatment as other information services. It was important to put broadband wireless on the same footing as cable and DSL."
That’s especially key, he added, as the FCC prepares for the auction later this year of a huge chunk of wireless spectrum, reclaimed from TV broadcasters as they move to government-mandated digital transmissions.
Martin said the biggest priority for the FCC in 2007 on the wireless front will be getting the procedures in place to auction off that spectrum in a timely and equitable manner. "Getting the government out of the way, in that sense, is the most important thing we can do," he added.
"Wireless is the most competitive industry of all of the sectors we regulate,” Martin said. “We have to make sure the same effect can be brought to the broadband side."
In other remarks, Martin suggested that the FCC needs to examine universal-service policies "to make sure we’re not funding yesterday’s technologies.”
“We have to do that in a technology-neutral way,” he added. “In the past, the commission had funded the incumbent carriers." For example, wireless technologies may be a more efficient means of connecting people, particularly in rural areas, he said.
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