Wireless Association Hires Former Boss of FCC Chief to Influence Agency on Public Safety Spectrum

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2007 – The wireless industry association CTIA has retained an economic consulting firm run by the former boss of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to poke holes in proposals modifying a forthcoming auction of radio frequencies.

Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises is run by Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican FCC Commissioner from 1997-2001. Martin worked as a telecommunications attorney for Furchtgott-Roth from 1997 to 1999.

Some technology companies and non-profit advocacy groups have been coalescing around a proposal released in February by a new venture called Frontline Wireless. It would create a new wireless zone for public safety communications.

But CTIA and its major members – particularly Verizon and AT&T – have come out strongly against the Frontline proposal. On April 5, CTIA CEO Steve Largent, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, said in a letter to Martin that there were “issues involving the legality of the proposal.”

The wireless companies are also upset that seriously entertaining the Frontline proposal, which appears to be gaining momentum at the FCC, would delay the agency’s planned auction of spectrum frequencies in January 2008. “It is unclear how a resolution of the issues raised by the Frontline proposal could occur in time for an auction,” said Largent.

A large selection of new radio-frequency spectrum will become available at auction for wireless carriers and other technology companies when broadcasters complete their transition to digital television (DTV). Last year Congress set the end-date for that transition as February 19, 2009.

Public safety will also benefit from the transition. It will receive an additional 24 Megahertz (MHz) of spectrum, or the equivalent of four television channels, one the DTV transition is complete. Another 60 MHz of spectrum is currently scheduled for auction.

Frontline would supplement the 24 MHz for public safety with an additional 10 MHz, lowering the amount of traditional wireless spectrum at auction to 50 MHz. But in a feature that attracts some technology companies, those 10 MHz will be available for commercial use during non-emergency periods.

Non-profit groups are attracted by Frontline’s promise that the 10 MHz would be governed by “open access” rules. Such rules would “deflect the self-interest of incumbents,” said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press. Last Thursday, Free Press and five other non-profits coalesced to form Save Our Spectrum. They seek “open access” mandates upon 30 MHz of the 60 MHz currently set for auction.

Further complicating this picture, many public safety groups still prefer a rival option by a venture called Cyren Call. That proposal would add 30 MHz – in addition to the new 24 MHz – for joint public safety and commercial use. That proposal would limit the amount of traditional wireless spectrum at auction to 30 MHz.

CTIA doesn’t like either proposal. They hired Furchtgott-Roth to draft a paper on “Principles for Enhancing Public Safety Telecommunications Capability.” Released in an April 5 letter to the FCC, the document was made public on the agency’s electronic filing system.

Furchtgott-Roth acknowledged “the underwriting of this paper by CTIA,” adding that “the views expressed in this paper are my own.”

Furchtgott-Roth’s arguments against Frontline are indirect: he does not mention Frontline or Cyren Call by name. Furchtgott-Roth articulated three principles that he said should guide the allocation of spectrum for public safety: they should be “consistent with existing laws,” they should promote public safety communications capabilities (and not commercial networks also usable by public safety), and that they “should not reduce the efficient operation” of the wireless industry.

In the report, Furchtgott-Roth said, “recent proposals for incremental spectrum for public safety do not appear to meet some or all of the three principles.”

Furchtgott-Roth did not return calls prior to publication. CTIA Director of Public Affairs Joe Farren said they hired Furchtgott-Roth because he is a “well-thought-of policy person with recognized expertise in the area.”

Additionally, Farren said that on April 11 and April 12, CTIA was sponsoring a closed-door forum at its Washington headquarters with wireless carriers, telecommunications industry providers and public safety officials. The forum was an attempt to broker a “consensus view of the public safety spectrum allocation,” said Farren.

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ADDENDUM, April 12, 2007, 4:31 P.M.:

Furchtgott-Roth Replies to Post on CTIA Report

Furchtgott-Roth returned our call. He said, “I submitted the paper on my own behalf, and not on behalf of CTIA. They have not formally embraced or endorsed it.”

Acknowledging sponsored by the wireless association CTIA, he added that the paper was not submitted to the FCC by CTIA, but by himself. “I don’t know whether it is just a question of timing [but] they are not submitting it; they are not advocating it in any way,” Furchtgott-Roth said.

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