A coalition of consumer groups wants open access for a portion of valuable wireless spectrum to be auctioned by the FCC in early 2008.

The six groups, calling themselves the Save Our Spectrum Coalition, filed comments with the FCC Thursday, suggesting competitors to the large DSL and cable modem service providers could use the open access to provide a broadband alternative. Sometime next year, the FCC is due to auction 60MHz of spectrum in the upper 700MHz band, which is being abandoned by U.S. television broadcasters as they move from analog to digital broadcasts...

The groups want the FCC to impose conditions on the winners of the spectrum auction. They want half of the 60MHz to be auctioned to allow open access to competitors of the large broadband providers, and they asked the FCC to require the spectrum be available at wholesale rates...

Each tower transmitting in the upper 700MHz spectrum band can cover four times the large geographic area as towers in higher bands, and the signals go through obstacles like trees and buildings better than traditional Wi-Fi, said Michael Calabrese, director of the wireless future program at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

"This is the last large auction of prime spectrum in the foreseeable future," Calabrese said during a Save Our Spectrum Coalition news conference...

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