Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bush Spectrum Task Force Hailed, Raises Expectations

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2003 17:06:20 -0400

Bush Spectrum Task Force Hailed, Raises Expectations

BY WIRELESS WEEK STAFF
JUNE 6, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Reaction to the White House's push to create a spectrum task
force to hammer more efficiency out of government spectrum use was swift and
positive, especially as wireless broadband services such as Wi-Fi rise in
popularity
and the government faces an international conference on radio spectrum
coordination.

'I commend the Administration today for its commitment to sound spectrum
management,' said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., in a statement. 'Spectrum-based
technologies have become an increasingly important need to our society and our
nation's economic prosperity. I look forward to the recommendations that will be
provided by the Federal Government Spectrum Task Force to promote more
efficient and beneficial use of spectrum.'

'The radio spectrum is a key driver of economic growth, and supports an array of
devices, applications and services Americans have come to depend upon - from
radars used in our national defense to tele-medicine, from mobile phones to the
public safety radios used by our first responders,' said FCC Chairman Michael
Powell in a statement.

'President Bush's Executive Memorandum recognizes the importance of spectrum
as an economic engine and underscores his commitment to putting spectrum to
its highest and best use for the American people,' he said.

CTIA spokespersons say this is the first time, to their knowledge, the government
has undertaken a review of government spectrum policy.

Other congressional and industry statements with the same tone were prevalent
yesterday.

Privately, though, some in the wireless industry had been carping that the White
House hadn't provided enough guidance on wireless issues in the last few months,
leaving some issues, like ultra-wide band spectrum and more government
spectral efficiency, largely up in the air.

The FCC had issued what is essentially the other half of the task force effort
into
spectrum efficiency-except on the industry side-months ago. The FCC's task force
recommended more and better use of unlicensed spectrum, among other things,
instead of searching for more licensed spectrum, as technologies, such as Wi-Fi,
that use unlicensed spectrum become more popular and prevalent.

Additionally, the new White House announcement, coupled with the older FCC
effort, will go a long way, say analysts, toward giving the United States a more
coherent position in the upcoming World Radio Conference that begins in Geneva,
Switzerland, on Monday. National Telecommunications and Information
Administration officials, as well as FCC officials, have been preparing for the
WRC
for months. The two want to have a coherent, coordinated plan to show the world.
The two task forces will go a long way toward that, say analysts.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=2&pubdate=06/06/03

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/