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.