Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 16, 2005 10:33:24 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Limits on wireless leave U.S. at risk
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: This item comes from reader Mike Cheponis. DLH]
Posted on Sun, Oct. 16, 2005
Limits on wireless leave U.S. at risk
By Reed Hundt
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12917284.htm>
For the past two years, everyone in Washington has agreed that the
country needs a new telecommunications law. But no one has been
able to provide a reason in terms that any voter could grasp. One
of the many outcomes of the Katrina and Rita catastrophes is that
we all know, tragically and inescapably, that America needs a new,
up-to- date communications network. If a law will give us that,
then Congress should pass that law. In a hurry.
We can start by identifying some things not to do. For example,
Louisiana and Florida adopted legislation in recent years intended
to slow the deployment of municipal wireless broadband
communications networks. These states are not alone; a dozen other
legislatures have tried to slow the deployment of municipal
broadband.
In theory, the legislation has helped traditional suppliers of
fixed telecommunications services serve existing and potential
customers without competition from local governments. But this
public-policy choice has hurt and will continue to impede first-
responder access to communications by making it difficult or
impossible for cities to deploy on-the-spot wireless broadband
communication systems.
In the wake of Katrina and Rita, ``new'' telecommunications
options, such as wireless broadband, were among the fastest to
reconnect first responders and citizens in the affected regions.
These new competitors are using the latest technologies, such as
voice over Internet protocol phones, mesh networking, and WiFi and
WiMax technologies that operate on unlicensed spectrum. In fact,
WiFi mesh technology has demonstrated yet again that it is one of
the most robust communications systems -- one that will stay up
the longest when a catastrophic event occurs and can be back up
first to aid in the rescue effort.
In New Orleans, for example, wireless ISP Verge Wireless has
connected refugees in shelters throughout the city, in conjunction
with MCI using WiMax and WiFi mesh networking gear operating in
unlicensed spectrum. In addition to Web access, this network also
supports voice-over-WiFi phones and will soon support video
surveillance of the city, enabling first responders to handle more
crucial tasks. In fact, a Vonage phone connected to the Internet in
a hotel in New Orleans was the first and only way for the mayor
and his response team to communicate with the world for two days.
Repeatedly in Congress and in legislatures, we have heard that
municipalities have no business being in the telecommunications
business. (Local community leaders heard much the same thing when
they sought to provide this newfangled thing called
``electricity'' to under-served and rural areas a century ago.)
Before the Katrina and Rita disasters, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas,
introduced HR 2627, to ``prohibit municipal governments from
offering telecommunications, information, or cable services, except
to remedy market failures by private enterprise to provide such
services.'' In Texas, a state representative has introduced HB 789,
which, like bills in other states, seeks to severely limit
municipalities or municipally owned utilities from participating
in municipal broadband projects.
As is the case in life, having a broad range of approaches and
options is usually the best way forward.
This means enacting laws that encourage municipalities and new
entrants to quickly build competing broadband infrastructure, such
as the Community Broadband Act, proposed by Sens. John McCain, R-
Ariz., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
Congress should grant $1 billion in federal matching grants to any
municipality that will pay 50 percent of the cost of such a local
wireless broadband network. Local government should let competitive
contracts and build city-by-city, county-by-county, coast-to-coast
WiFi network.
Officials ought to reallocate a spectrum, probably in the 700
megahertz band, for a national wireless network reserved for first
responders. The local WiFi networks can be used by anyone with a
laptop. The first-responder network would be available only for
authorized emergency services. But for the first time all -- the
Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, local police departments, local firefighters and so on --
would be on the same network. They could use similar equipment.
They could communicate with each other, saving lives and taking
fewer risks to do so. The Federal Communications Commission
should reallocate the spectrum. Congress should appropriate the
money.
Finally, Congress should ask the FCC to coordinate the repair and
relief efforts of the big commercial wireless, wire, cable,
broadcast and satellite networks. The able new chairman of the FCC
has led a bipartisan commission with energy and focus in assessing
what went wrong and what can be done better to repair downed
networks. Congress should give the FCC chairman the tools he needs
to make sure that we all learn the hard lesson of Katrina and Rita.
REED HUNDT, former chairman of the FCC, wrote this article for the
Mercury News.
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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