WCAI to Host a Webinar on Unlocking the Potential of the 3.65 GHz Band

WCAI will host a webinar at 1 pm ET on Wednesday, Nov. 18 to examine the challenges facing the 3.65 GHz band in the United States and discuss the ways to unlock the band’s potential.

The 3.65 GHz band presents a unique opportunity to operators in the United States to expand their coverage to new markets and improve the economics and performance of their networks. Over 800 operators nationwide have applied for or received a license to operate in these lightly licensed frequencies since they were made available by the FCC in 2005. However, the band has still not reached a critical mass of deployment and harbors significant potential for growth.

Join the WCAI webinar and find out how you can maximize your return on investment in the 3.65 GHz band and unlock the band's potential by addressing its remaining regulatory and technical challenges. The webinar is open to all and is free of charge. For more information or to register, please visit the WCAI’s 3.65 GHz Webinar Registration Page.

e-Copernicus: Assisting Applicants Obtain Broadband Stimulus Funding

WCAI member e-Copernicus, one of the nation’s premier telecommunications and technology consulting firms, is leveraging its broadband financing experience to help clients obtain federal broadband stimulus funds. Led by Gregory Rohde and Christopher McLean, former NTIA Administrator and former RUS Administrator respectively, e-Copernicus provides clients with high quality, in-depth knowledge about successfully navigating their former agencies’ BTOP/BIP application processes.

e-Copernicus provided strategic advice to wireless, wireline and cable clients in the filing of more than 130 applications requesting over $232 million in broadband stimulus funding. Additionally, the firm worked closely with clients to develop individualized strategic plans for responding to over one hundred Public Notice Filings.

As applicants await notifications regarding progress to Step 2, e-Copernicus recommends that applicants begin thinking about their compliance strategy. e-Copernicus works with clients to devise a project-specific action plan to meet all federal compliance targets, help the awardee calculate and track job creation statistics, and prepare and submit compliance filings.

For Step 2, the e-Copernicus team recommends that:

• Round one applicants awaiting notification on their application should begin compiling data in advance that will be required for the Step 2 Due Diligence Stage;
• Unsuccessful applicants should begin revising their application for Round Two;
• First time applicants should begin developing partnerships and strategies for Round Two funding;
• Current Round One applicants and potential Round Two applicants should consider responding to the soon to be released Request for Information (RFI) to shape the rules for Round Two.

e-Copernicus is a full service consultancy built on an experienced team of professionals with in-depth knowledge of every aspect of federal grant programs. In addition to its two partners, Gregory Rohde and Christopher McLean, the e-Copernicus team includes Carla Anderson, an expert in telemedicine, grant/loan writing, and grants administration, as well as a group of professionals with the experience needed to meet ARRA and grant requirements.

For more information on e-Copernicus services, please visit www.e-copernicus.com or contact Jennifer S. Holtz.

WCAI Recommends FCC Establish a Pervasive Computing Test Bed

The Internet today is broadband, mobility, and social networking. The Internet of the future will be pervasive computing with access to broadband everywhere. WCAI today asked the FCC to make the transition to pervasive computing environment a primary goal of the nation’s broadband plan.

To achieve this goal, WCAI recommends that the FCC’s national broadband plan establish a city-wide computing test bed to enable experimental research in pervasive computing. The alternative is to risk falling behind nations like Korea, who are developing large-scale pervasive computing test beds today. A city-wide test bed in the United States would spur the development of pervasive computing by providing a locus for collaboration between researches, industry, and government – all of whom will likely be necessary to evolve our current computing paradigm to pervasive computing and reestablish America’s leadership in information technology.

Pervasive computing turns anything in our environment, including the human body, into a networked resource. Information is being generated everywhere, all the time, but usually without a means of collecting and using it. With pervasive computing enabled by ubiquitous wireless networks, this information can be collected and disseminated in real-time seamlessly and unobtrusively. Such capabilities will be essential to supporting the various purposes envisioned by the national broadband plan, including health case, energy, and education.

As WCAI noted in its initial comments in the national broadband plan proceeding, pervasive computing capabilities have been largely unprecedented in the broadband policy debate. This should change if the United States is to be at the forefront of broadband and computing. Developing a large-scale pervasive computing test bed would help ensure that the United States accomplishes those goals.

Enforta to Add 25 Cities to Its Russian WiMAX Network in 2010

Leveraging its position as Russia’s largest regional WiMAX operator, WCAI member Enforta stepped up its expansion efforts this year, despite the difficulties caused by the global economic recession. The operator announced this week it will expand its wireless broadband service in Russia to cover an additional 25 cities during 2010, increasing the company’s overall service ‘footprint’ to 93 cities.

Included in the 25 new cities is Kazan – the last remaining city in Russia with a population exceeding 500K that Enforta does not presently serve. The first four cities are expected to launch as early as the first quarter of 2010. Upon conclusion of these deployments 70 million people will be within reach of Enforta’s service.

The global economic crisis has certainly thrown a number of rocks in Enforta’s path. At the worst point in the crisis both the Russian equities market and the Russian Rubble had lost fully half their value. A number of the largest regional capital cities stared unemployment bordering 30%, and for a few months Enforta’s credit related subscriber churn exceeded 25% per annum.

Though the Russian economy has slowed, demand for broadband services remains good due to the growing Internet population (Russia now ranks #9 globally), and negligible broadband penetration (less than 8%).

“Russia has certainly not been exempt from the global economic crisis, but in the last few months we have seen steady improvement,” said Victor Ratnikov, Enforta’s General Director. “In order for Enforta to maintain its leadership position, we believe the time is right to renew our expansion program – particularly in some of the smaller regional capitals where our corporate subscriber base is underserved.”

The tough economic times have also served as a catalyst for larger enterprises migrating to Enforta. Enforta’s end-to-end service management, nationwide operating footprint, and rapid installation are continually referenced amongst the reasons why some of the nation’s largest companies are switching to Enforta. Last quarter Enforta received its first major order from the Russian government covering 420 sites.

“Today Enforta is fiscally stronger than ever before, and thus it is timely and appropriate that we resume our geographic expansion in order to retain the company’s leadership position in providing wireless broadband services to Russia’s regional capital cities,” said Enforta President Lee Sparkman. Enforta plans to invest approximately $25 million during 2010 for the expansion program, with most funding coming out of the company’s own cash flow.

Enforta was formed in October, 2003 with the objective to provide broadband services using WiMAX and other advanced technologies in Russia’s regional capitals. The Company is owned by Baring Vostok Capital Partners, Sumitomo Corporation, Bessemer Venture Partners, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Enforta has aggressively deployed its broadband services across Russia’s regional capitals and despite its short six year history the Company was included amongst the largest 30 telecom operators in the ‘CNews’ annual survey.

Enforta is amongst many who have publicly announced their intention to compete in the upcoming state sponsored contest for 2.3-2.4GHz spectrum. The ‘beauty contest’ styled process will cover spectrum in 40 of Russia’s federal regions and is the first such contest for WiMAX spectrum managed by the state regulator. While the final contest criteria have not been published, all contestants are lobbying for criteria that most favor their positions. As reported this week in the Russian press (http://net.compulenta.ru/471481/), the contest rules now award significant points to operators who own fiber in each of the federal regions, a criteria widely rumored to favor the state owned companies (Svyazinvest, TransTelecom, and Rostelecom) as well as the companies who have acquired significant fiber assets from the state operators (Synterra). The politics behind spectrum are ‘thick’ in Russia and additional changes can be anticipated before the final contest rules are announced this month.

For more information on Enforta’s current operations and planned expansion see www.enforta.com or contact pr@enforta.com.

WCAI Congratulates Rural Utilities Service on its 60th Anniversary

On behalf of the wireless broadband industry, I congratulate the Rural Utilities Service on its 60th anniversary. The funding made available through the telecommunications loan and grant programs administered by the RUS has been critical to ensuring that rural consumers have access to essential communications services like wireless broadband.

The success of the RUS programs has been demonstrated by WCAI members, such as Open Range Communications, who are bringing the latest wireless technologies to rural America with the help of RUS funding. WCAI and our members look forward to working with RUS in the years to come.

What Does the American Experience with Roads Tell Us about Broadband?

Broadband infrastructure, sometimes called the “Internet highway,” has long been analogized to the nation’s highways. Yesterday, Art Brodsky said in the Public Knowledge Blog that not being “allowed to play favorites” has been part of transportation for 100 years. And in the Commission’s recent report on rural broadband, the National Highway System (“NHS”) was used as an example of America’s ability to overcome its infrastructure challenges. But favorites are played on the nation’s roadways, and the NHS includes only 4% of the nation’s roads.

So what does America’s experience with building the nation’s roads tell us about broadband, especially mobile broadband? (I note that Anna-Maria Kovacs at Regulatory Source Associates did a similar piece yesterday, but I explore different aspects of the analogy below.)

Guaranteed Speed. Like mobile wireless systems, the roadways are a shared infrastructure. Although a highway may be designed to handle traffic “up to” 55 mph, during rush hour traffic often slows considerably – and in many cities slows to a standstill. The available speed of travel on a typical highway changes throughout the day depending on the level of demand at any given point in time. It also changes throughout the week – holiday weekends are often busier than non-holiday weekends. This is the nature of inherently shared networks, which may explain why transportation engineers don’t provide “guaranteed” speeds.

Traffic Management. That doesn’t mean that transportation engineers stand idly by when traffic congestion threatens the usability of a particular road. Transportation engineers have devised numerous ways of dealing with traffic congestion.

A common method is to limit use of certain lanes or even the entire road at certain times to certain vehicles – i.e., “high occupancy vehicles” or “HOV”, which often includes motorcycles or vehicles using hybrid technology. Thus, a driver’s choice of vehicle may dictate whether, when, and how that driver may use certain roadways. In other words, a driver of a “gas hog” may be excluded from a particular roadway, even if that driver has excellent reasons for using that type of vehicle (e.g., an accessible van driven by a person with disabilities or a low-income driver that cannot afford a more modern alternative that would qualify for HOV privileges).

Traffic engineers are also increasingly using “congestion pricing” to reduce traffic congestion during peak demand. In some instances, a fee is charged for using HOV lanes, which are known as “high occupancy toll” or “HOT” lanes. Another form of congestion pricing is to reduce existing toll rates outside the hours of peak demand.

Some oppose government traffic management methodologies on the grounds of discrimination. The National Motorists Association (“NMA”) argues that drivers should have “[c]omplete access to all public streets, roads, and highways, free of arbitrary restrictions, exorbitant fees, or governmental attempts to dictate personal travel choices.” For example, according to the NMA, HOV rules that allow certain vehicle types inherently discriminate among drivers based on their choice of vehicle. But such opposition has not eliminated the use of HOV restrictions by government officials, who recognize the very real challenges of traffic management.

Financing Construction. Transportation engineers also use various methods to fund new construction. Although tax dollars are the most common method of funding roadway construction and maintenance, some roads (especially highways) are built and maintained using a form of metered pricing – i.e., tolls. Tolls may vary according to the distance traveled, the building and maintenance costs of the roadway, and the type of vehicle.

When building its roadway system, the United States also took into account differences between sparsely populated rural areas and more densely populated urban areas. The United States does not offer the same types of roads to both urban and rural areas. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, approximately 35 percent of the roads in the United States are still unpaved. When balancing the costs and benefits of building paved roads to every house in America, the United States has decided that the benefits of paved roads are outweighed by their cost in many rural areas.

Fees for Heavy Users. Due to the additional congestion and impact on road surfaces caused by the trucking industry, it is not surprising that the trucking industry pays additional taxes and tolls for use of the nation’s roadways. All federal trucking industry taxes are earmarked for the Federal Highway Trust Fund (“HTF”). The HTF was designed as a user-supported fund, and it is the primary source of revenue for the interstate highway system and various other federal-aid highway programs. Although all users pay into the fund through fuel taxes, diesel fuel used by the commercial trucking industry is taxed at a higher rate than gasoline (diesel is 24.4 cents per gallon compared to gasoline’s 18.4 cents per gallon). Commercial tires are similarly taxed at a higher rate than non-commercial tires. Perhaps most relevant to the broadband analogy is the Federal Heavy Vehicle Use Tax, which is imposed on all vehicles with a gross weight of more than 55,000 pounds, and federal excise taxes, which are imposed on all new tractor and trailer purchases. Thus, where our highways are concerned, the federal government has expressly embraced the idea that heavy users of a shared resource should pay more for that use.

Mobile Wireless. Mobile wireless network engineers face many of the same challenges that confront transportation officials. Like America’s roadways, mobile wireless networks are shared infrastructure subject to congestion that must be managed through various techniques, including through limitations on certain types of applications (wireless “HOV” restrictions) and congestion pricing. Also like roadways, broadband networks are costly to build, especially in rural areas. Just as rural America has been connected largely with unpaved roads, mobile wireless technologies are a more cost-effective solution for rural areas than fiber to the home. And, like the Federal government does with the commercial trucking industry, it makes sense to charge particularly heavy users of mobile networks more than typical users.

WCAI Honors Jim Schlichting, Lee Sparkman, Kelley Dunne at Symposium

WCAI honored three industry visionaries with its annual awards at the Wireless Operator Dinner Sept. 15 held as part of the WCAI’s Annual International Symposium at 4G World. Jim Schlichting, Senior Deputy Chief of the FCC’s Wireless Bureau, was presented with the Government Leadership Award; Lee Sparkman, President of Enforta (Russia) with the Industry Service Award; and Kelley Dunne, CEO of DigitalBridge, with the Innovation Achievement Award. “We at WCAI are delighted to recognize the achievements of Jim Schlichting, Lee Sparkman and Kelley Dunne,” said WCAI President & CEO Fred Campbell. “Throughout their distinguished careers, they contributed to the growth and prosperity of the wireless broadband industry. On behalf of the WCAI, I want to thank them for their hard work and congratulate on winning the WCAI’s annual awards.”