[IP] Regulators, cities, business converge on wireless broadband
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 31, 2004 9:59:54 PM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Regulators, cities, business converge on
wireless broadband
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Regulators, cities, business converge on wireless broadband
Mobile Pipeline News
Oct 29, 2004 (9:40 AM)
URL: http://www.commsdesign.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=51201449
MANHASSET, N.Y. — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has twice
in the last month moved to make broadcast spectrum available for
advanced wireless services. At the same time, several cities have
announced wireless initiatives, and companies have begun to shape
themselves to be wireless broadband providers on the model of the
cellular telephone industry.
The FCC last week announced it would clear blocks of frequencies in
the 1.7 Ghz and 2.1 Ghz ranges for advanced wireless services (AWS) — a
step toward a future auction of 90 MHz of spectrum for AWS. This was
the second time in just over a month the commission had acted to create
AWS spectrum. On Sept. 4 it allocated 20Mhz of spectrum that it said
"can be used to offer a variety of broadband and advanced wireless
services (AWS), potentially including 'third generation' (3G) wireless
services."
Commission chairman Michael K. Powell also hit the road to talk up
wireless broadband. He addressed audiences at the CTIA show in San
Francisco on Tuesday and WISPCON in Las Vegas on Wednesday. In both
appearances he cast himself as the champion of wireless broadband:
"Adopting policies that foster increased availability of broadband
alternatives and competition is one of the most important goals of the
FCC," he told the wireless Internet service providers in Las Vegas.
The theme of his WISP speech, "Bringing the Benefits of Broadband to
Rural America," was echoed in an announcement by the city of Rio
Rancho, New Mexico on Thursday that it had selected a provider to
deploy a 103-square-mile Wi-Fi network by March of next year. The city
joins several others with large wireless broadband ambitions, including
Colusa, CA, Helena, MT, Scotts Bluff, NB, Flora, IL, and Holbrook, New
York — all held up as examples by Chairman Powell in his WISP speech.
Also on Thursday, one wireless Internet service provider, U.S.
Wireless Online, Inc., of Louisville, KY, gave a hint of how the WISP
industry might grow when it announced its acquisition of MJS Holdings,
Inc., an Ohio wireless broadband provider with 700 square miles of
wireless broadband coverage in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland
and surrounding areas in Ohio. The purchase will more than triple the
coverage area served by U.S. Wireless, which also operates a
carrier-grade network operations center. The company's announcement
sait it "intends to expand its wireless coverage area and revenue base
through acquisitions within its emerging and highly fragmented
industry" and is currently looking for other acquisition candidates.
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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