Policy Tracker

J.H. Snider Challenges Traditional Spectrum Theory in Policy Tracker

Communications — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:16:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Dr. Snider is research director for the New America Foundation’s Wireless Future Program and he says he has good reason to believe that his paper, titled "Spectrum Policy Wonderland: A Critique of Conventional Property Rights and Commons Theory in a World of Low Power Wireless Devices," could change the terms of the current debate. (A summary of the paper appears on the next page).

In recent years that debate has centred on three models: command-and-control, property rights and commons. It is now widely accepted that the command and control approach to spectrum management is an ineffective way to allocate a valuable finite resource but agreeing its replacement remains a bone of contention. This challenge is acknowledged in another key spectrum report produced this year by the Digital Age Communications Act (DACA) Project’s Working Group on New Spectrum Policy on behalf of the US based Progress and Freedom Foundation. “While there is widespread dissatisfaction with the legacy command-and-control systems, there is considerable disagreement (even within this working group) over what should replace it,” it says. The working group included some of the biggest US names in spectrum policy Gerald Faulhauber, Thomas W Hazlett and Lawrence J. White...

Speaking to Policy Tracker about the purpose of his paper, Snider said that his biggest hope was to get the US municipalities behind him in shifting the management of unlicensed property rights from the federal government to state and local governments.

‘In addition to the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), spectrum policy community, I’ve been discussing the piece with high-tech and municipal lobbies as well as some key spectrum engineering academics. There seems to be widespread agreement that the US hasn’t done enough – and Europe is even worse - with unlicensed underlay technologies such as Ultra Wide Band...’

For the complete article -- as well as Policy Tracker Newsletter's summary of Snider's recent report, "Spectrum Policy Wonderland" -- please see the Policy Tracker website.

J.H. Snider on the FCC Auction in Policy Tracker

Communications — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:16:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The US Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Advanced Wireless Service (AWS) auction closed this month with T-Mobile topping the bids at around $4.2 million but revenues generated may have been dampened by national security concerns...

Says J.H. Snider, Research Director of the New America Foundation’s Wireless Future Program: ‘Despite all the hoopla over the high revenue it is actually pretty low, less than $1 on a per MHz population basis. That is less than a quarter of its peak in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.’ There are a number of possible reasons why the numbers remained relatively low but one got virtually no attention in the press. ‘Some of the federal users of this band didn’t reveal their precise locations and uses because of claimed national security concerns,’ says Snider. ‘For a sophisticated investor, that ignorance added a risk factor and would surely have dampened prices...’

For the complete article, please visit the Policy Tracker website.

J.H. Snider Comments on Efforts to Curb White Space in Policy Tracker

Communications — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 16:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Critics are skeptical of the proposals arguing that the fact that the ">projected schedule released on September 11, came just a day ahead of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s confirmation hearing before Congress is cause for concern. ‘On the one hand we believe that this is largely a manoeuvre to defang Congress and shift the battle back to the FCC where the TV "white space" initiative can be further delayed and ultimately even killed,’ says J.H. Snider, Research Director of the New America Foundation’s , Wireless Future Program. Pressure on Congress is being brought to bear by companies like Microsoft, Intel and to some extent Cisco which have an interest in using this spectrum.

Proposals for the use of unlicensed devices in the broadcasters’ unused spectrum or so-called “white space” were put forward by the last FCC administration. The objective was to replicate the success of WiFi but with longer range. The spectrum below 900 MHz is desirable because of its propagation characteristics; it travels through walls and signal quality extends much further.

This project apparently ground to the halt under Martin who is criticised for having no interest in spectrum or in creating controversy. ‘It is noteworthy that this FCC initiative is being attributed to the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology rather than the Chairman’s office. This gives Martin more political cover in the end game to kill it if he so desires,’ says Snider...

For Snider, however, the real question is how much unlicensed use will be allowed. The FCC killed Low Power FM use of radio white spaces by restricting its use to such an extent that ultimately it was no competitive threat to the incumbent broadcasters.

Could this be a repeat of that strategy? ‘The broadcasters have been pushing for a castrated white space order through dominance of the 802.22 standards setting body,’ says Snider. For the wireless camp then, the worry is that if the broadcasters are able to exert sufficient influence over 802.22 and a compliant FCC, this strategy may just be successful.