spectrum

White House pushes for sharing of government spectrum

President Barack Obama has ordered federal agencies to find ways to share their wireless spectrum with commercial providers. But wireless operators say they'd still like slivers of this spectrum all for themselves.

On Friday, Obama signed a memorandum in which he directed the nation's chief technology officer and the director of the National Economic Council to form a Spectrum Policy Team that will work with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) with guidance from the Federal Communications Commission to come up with a plan to identify and test government held spectrum that can be shared with the … Read more

Industry debates FCC auction rules for AT&T and Verizon

There's no question that wireless carriers large and small want to get their hands on more wireless spectrum. But deciding which carriers should get how much spectrum was the subject of intense debate on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The topic was front and center during a Senate subcommittee hearing in which representatives from the two main trade associations and other industry experts testified on the State of the Wireless Market.

Each of the experts called to testify reiterated a familiar request that the government make more wireless spectrum available for wireless broadband services. Without more spectrum, Steve Largent, head … Read more

Acting FCC Chairwoman: We're still focused on spectrum

LAS VEGAS -- Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said that the agency is not slowing down when it comes to getting new spectrum on the market, even though the commission is down two members.

Clyburn, who made her first appearance as the interim head of the FCC at the CTIA Wireless Association's opening keynote, reassured the wireless industry that the FCC will continue to make more spectrum available, even as the agency prepares for a new full-time chairman and awaits the nomination of a Republican commissioner.

"The FCC wireless agenda remains focused," she said. "… Read more

Dish said to bid $2B for Lightsquared spectrum

LightSquared's wireless spectrum could be getting a new owner, according to a new report.

According to Bloomberg, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen made a $2 billion bid last week for LightSquared's radio frequencies, which are owned by private investment firm Harbinger Capital Partners.

Bloomberg added, based on unnamed sources said to be familiar with the deal, that LightSquared has until the end of the month to make a decision.

Dish is already bogged down by other networking and communications deals floating around -- namely a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel. The nation's third-largest mobile provider … Read more

SoftBank: Our Sprint bid is better for this reason -- TD-LTE

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son says his company's $20.1 billion acquisition offer is best for Sprint, even though Dish Nework's bid is higher.

Speaking Tuesday at an event in Tokyo, Son told reporters the LTE network efficiencies that his company can bring to Sprint would dramatically improve the value of Sprint's network to customers. And that's all because of an LTE variant that Softbank already uses, called TD-LTE.

Softbank has been using TD-LTE for quite some time, and as Son points out, it's doing so in Japan "on a large scale."

TD (Time … Read more

California gets first commercial white-space high-speed Internet

Believe it or not, there are still parts of the U.S. that don't have access to high-speed Internet. But that's looking to change with the onset of TV white-space broadband technology.

The first commercial application of this type of service in the U.S. is coming to a rural area of Northern California called El Dorado County, or Gold Country. Internet provider Cal.net is partnering with network equipment provider Carlson to bring this region's residents something more than dial-up.

"Over 59,000 residents in our rural service area have had little or no quality … Read more

How T-Mobile's new service plans could change the industry

Imagine a world where you could take your mobile phone to any carrier you wanted.

You wouldn't be bound to a contract, and your phone would be free from technical constraints that make it impossible to use on other carriers' networks. And forget about that $700 price tag that left you wondering if you were buying a phone or a computer. In this new world order, pricing on smartphones would fall as quickly as the components inside them become commoditized, much like the prices of all consumer electronics. That means no need to cling to a service contract in … Read more

Google taps 'white spaces' for broadband in South Africa

In an effort to show the potential of the unused frequencies in the broadcast TV spectrum, Google has launched a trial program that will tap the so-called white spaces to provide wireless broadband to schools in South Africa.

The Web giant announced today it will use the unused spectrum to provide Internet access to 10 schools in the Cape Town area. The goal of the trial is to show that wireless broadband can be provided over white spaces -- the unused spectrum that sits between broadcast TV channels -- without interfering with licensed spectrum.

"White space has the advantage … Read more

Verizon to use cable spectrum for LTE starting this year

Verizon Wireless will soon put to use spectrum it bought from the cable companies last year, according to its chief technology officer, Nicola Palmer, who was interviewed by Fierce Wireless.

Palmer told the blog in a one-on-one interview published today that the company will soon complete deployment of its 4G LTE service in the nationwide 700MHz spectrum it bought in a Federal Communications Commission auction in 2008. Verizon covered about 90 percent of the U.S. with its 700MHz spectrum last year, Palmer said. And starting the middle of this year, Verizon will add capacity to the network using the … Read more