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[ NNSquad ] Google pleads for more unlicensed spectrum instead of more auctions


Ironically, the current licensing regime not only makes projects that
large enterprises like Google would like to see happen difficult or
impossible, but also has a massive negative impact on relatively small
ISPs who are held hostage by the dominant ISPs and have to depend on those
giant to provide backhaul and other facilities.  So for smaller players,
the current licensing situation is lose-lose.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator

----- Forwarded message from Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> -----

Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:20:42 -0500
From: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: [IP] Google pleads for more unlicensed spectrum instead of more
	auctions
Reply-To: dave@farber.net
To: ip <ip@listbox.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 8:01 PM
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Google pleads for more unlicensed spectrum instead
of more auctions
To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net@warpspeed.com>


Google pleads for more unlicensed spectrum instead of more auctions
Cites inability to compete with big carriers in auctions
By Brad Reed, Network World
January 12, 2012
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/011212-google-spectrum-254842.html>

LAS VEGAS - Google would really, really like to see the Federal
Communications Commission open up a huge swath of unlicensed spectrum for
mobile broadband.
However, it doesn't look like the company will get its wish. During a panel
discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, Google senior policy
counsel Rick Whitt outlined his company's case for making more unlicensed
spectrum available instead of simply auctioning off spectrum to the highest
bidders. In particular, Whitt cited Google's inability to compete with
Verizon when bidding on the so-called "C Block" of spectrum on the 700MHz
band that the FCC auctioned off in 2008 that now forms the backbone of
Verizon's nationwide LTE network.

"We thought, 'What would it take for us to outbid Verizon?' And every one
of the game theorists we talked to across the spectrum said the same thing:
'You'll never outbid Verizon,' " he said. "They are the incumbents and they
will do everything they can to foreclose your entry into the market."

Whitt also cited concerns about the proposed spectrum auction legislation
that recently passed in the House of Representatives. In particular, Whitt
said that an all-licensed approach to spectrum wouldn't give carriers the
spectrum they need to build out common infrastructure.

"The concern that many of us have ... is that [the proposed House
legislation] seems to say, 'Everything that's cleared must be auctioned and
everything that's auctioned must be licensed,' which in our mind would rule
out unlicensed," said Whitt. "If nothing else, if you are an advocate of
licensed usage there are things like guard bands or things like duplex gaps
that are going to be really necessary to have the next generation of LTE
networks built... This is beachfront spectrum. How about a couple public
beaches?"

But Neil Fried, the chief telecommunications counsel for the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, said that the spectrum in question would be wasted
if it was used for short-field communications and said that it needed a
national telecom carrier to properly build out and manage a nationwide
mobile broadband network.

"There is a need for unlicensed spectrum and that will remain," said Fried.
"The type of things we're talking about, the offloading? That's short haul,
that's not long haul. If we're talking about beach-front property, are we
talking about a place to go surfing or are we talking about a shipping
lane? ... What we've done is we've set the right balance. The 700MHz and
below, that's the prime stuff for the long-haul licensed wireless broadband
use ... creating an oasis for unlicensed use would be essentially
preventing the use for licensed."

[snip]

Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress>

----- End forwarded message -----
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