Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Adelstein Speaks Out On Wireless

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 15:14:29 -0400

Adelstein Speaks Out On Wireless 

By Sue Marek
May 1, 2003

With just a few months of service under his belt, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is
the most junior member of the commission. However, being the new guy on the block hasn't
stopped him from voicing his opinions on telecom policymaking. On a recent visit to
Colorado to give his first speech on wireless, Adelstein spoke with Wireless Week Senior
Editor Sue Marek about his views on the importance of spectrum management in fostering new
services and the role of the Universal Service Fund.

Wireless Week: What wireless issue is most on your mind right now?

Jonathan Adelstein: I think the real big challenge facing the industry is spectrum
management—trying to try to do more with less. We have increasing demands on the spectrum
at a time when we are not creating any new spectrum. We have to meet those demands or the
industry can't expand to provide the services that the consumers want. Also we need to try
to restore the vitality of the economy of the telecom sector. We want to be able to
accommodate the demands for spectrum and there are a lot of ways that you can do that.
More efficient management involves managing receiver efficiency and transmitter
efficiency. It also means ensuring that what we have out there gets used to its maximum
potential.

WW: Is this related to what the Spectrum Policy Task Force is doing?

Adelstein: The chairman and I agree on a lot of these different wireless issues. I don't
necessarily agree with everything in the Spectrum Policy Task Force report but I
appreciate that he showed the leadership to put that out.

Generally innovation in the wireless sector is what drives new services. And so the idea
behind my "framework for innovation" is that we want to allow a framework where these
companies can innovate and provide new services that people will want. And help our
economy expand.

There's a question about whether you go to command or control or it's exclusive rights.
I'm saying it's not an either/or proposition. There is a time and place for different
levels of management and we need to strike the right balance. The right balance isn't
always obvious. It can vary from band to band. It can vary from the technologies being
used and who the incumbents are in that space and what they are doing with the bandwidth
they are using. Do they need to be moved or encouraged to use the spectrum more
efficiently through whatever means we can use to encourage efficiency, including fees and
that type of thing? We have to think of creative ways to encourage people to use the
spectrum they have efficiently. Clearly there is more room out there but we have to use
what we've got more efficiently in order to meet the demands. My bottom-line goal is to
pack more data and information over our nation's airwaves. The better our information
flow, the more productivity we have as a society, the more we can improve people's
lifestyles and quality of their life through wireless.

WW: As a former legislative aide for Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., you know a lot about the
challenges of rural communities. How do you see wireless helping the rural user?

Adelstein: I think wireless has special applications in rural areas. It's particularly
applicable because wireline can be very costly to deploy to rural areas and wireless
solutions can cover vast spaces cheaper and more quickly. In areas where there might not
be existing infrastructure you can deploy wireless systems that will allow people to get
quality of service that is equivalent to more urban areas. Because of the larger spaces
and the fact that there is less interference, you can do quite a bit more out there. You
can look at ways of adjusting power levels on cellular towers. But it's an example of less
interference in rural areas; you can take advantage of that and use more power to cover
the larger distances that need to be covered.

WW: What is your view of the Universal Service Fund and the wireless industry's ability to
tap that fund?

Adelstein: The Universal Service Fund is technologically neutral. I think we need to be
more rigorous about how we do it. It has nothing to do with whether it's wireless or
wireline but for any new applicant for Universal Service Fund we need to make sure they
are providing a new service that is something that consumers will benefit from in new
ways. There's a lot of demands on universal service and one of them is wireless. That is
fine because that's the intention of the program. But whatever new demands we are placing
on it, we need to be very careful about how that's done and what demands we are placing on
the fund and for what purpose. Consumers have to pay for that to benefit other consumers.
We have to look at the big picture. Is there enough benefit to consumers by granting an
ETC to justify that other consumers are paying for it? In many cases there are. In some
cases there may be less justification. We need to rigorously screen this to make the right
cuts.

WW: But wireline carriers have dipped into the fund much more than wireless carriers. Do
you see that changing?

Adelstein: It's got to even out. Now the bulk is going to wireline so wireless is going to
take an increasingly large share, is my guess. There's nowhere to go but up. They are
getting very little out in relation to what they are paying in. That's a legitimate
concern. We just need to find the right balance. Make the right designations. The states
have the primary role in this. The FCC oversees some ETCs but the bulk of them are done by
the state commissions. I would encourage state commissions to be rigorous in their
analysis before granting an ETC. Congress made a special point of saying that in rural
areas they must be in the public interest.

WW: Do you think spectrum auctions are a dying practice?

Adelstein: Congress requires spectrum auctions for terrestrial service so it's not going
to die until Congress changes it and I don't think we'll see that any time soon,
especially given the budget deficit that we are now facing. Even if it were a good policy
idea not to do it, I don't see Congress changing it.

WW: What do you think about CTIA's efforts to challenge LNP?

Adelstein: Because it's a pending proceeding I have to be careful about what I say. We are
going to look into it. We understand there are major concerns about all these things
happening at once. You have E911, CALEA and frankly I think E911 is a higher priority. I
know it's causing strains on carriers and it's causing strain on rural wireless companies,
which is a real concern. But at the same time there is a deadline coming up and I don't
know if there's a lot of support in the commission for extending it. But it is something
we will consider.

WW: Do you expect the FCC operations to be affected by E911 responsibilities that might be
assumed by the Department of Homeland Defense?

Adelstein: We want to encourage the Department of Homeland Defense to take on a more
active role. Dale Hatfield from the University of Colorado has recommended that we shift a
lot of it to the Department of Homeland Security. I think we need as much help from them
as possible. We need their assistance with this. The idea of creating a new division
within that department may take more time than it's worth. On April 29 we are meeting to
bring together the parties to move the ball forward.
 
We would like to have the help of the Department and see the creation of a new area to
help us focus on the incredibly diverse array of interested parties in this. I just don't
know if it will take more time to create some bureaucratic organization than it is
actually going to provide progress on E911. I think we are doing a pretty good job as it
is. I don't have a problem with it but I think we need to focus on actually getting the
job done.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA295495&spacedesc=Departments&stt=000

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