Politics

The FCC and WISPs

While ISPs and CLECs are being written out of telecom, the FCC is working hard to make life better for WISPs, two lawyers told attendees at ISPCON.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Associate Editor [November 22, 2005]

It was an early morning session at ISPCON, but the room was packed. There's plenty of legal changes and proposed legislation to learn about, so The 10 Biggest Policy Issues Facing Your Business and What to Do About Them was a real draw.

Panelists Kris Twomey, CLEC lawyer and principal of the Law Offices of Kris Twomey (LOKT), based in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.-based e-commerce and copyright lawyer David Snead agreed that although the FCC has been ignorant and erroneous in its wireline policy, its wireless policy is benefiting innovation and removing unncessary rules.

They pointed out that the FCC has been very good to WISPs, lightening regulation in many areas. The list is quite long. The FCC has done well in the following areas:

• Smart radios
• Easier Part 15 rules
• Opening the 3.65 GHz band
• Licensed spectrum leasing
• 255 MHz in UNII

The FCC is even considering allowing the WISPs to use TV whitespace. Whereas TV broadcasters would interfere with each other in adjacent channels, it should be possible for intelligent radios to avoid interfering with television broadcasts.

Of course, TV broadcasting could end entirely in a few years, if Senator McCain's bill passes (see Senator, That's Not The Issue). Unfortunately, the bill will allow cellular companies to buy spectrum permanently. At ISP-Planet, we prefer selling spectrum for 10 years or 25 years at a time. Even if Congressmembers have debts to the cellular companies, they should be able to avoid selling spectrum for a period of longer than 1,000 years.

"Unless you're near a DoD radar site, you have better access to 5 GHz," noted Snead. He added that licenses for 24 GHz and 38 GHz spectrum can run about $500 per year per point to point link, but the gear still costs thousands of dollars.

He urged all WISPs to keep an eye on the FCC's Wireless Broadband Access Task Force (WBATF) which is doing wonderful things for WISPs.

—End