Introduction to Upcoming FCC Auction

As most of you know by now, the FCC (Federal Communications Commissions) is set to auction off a sizable portion of electromagnetic spectrum. The spectrum, once used by analog televisions, has been reallocated due to the FCC mandating that all tvs must be digital by 2009. This leaves commercial US telecommunication companies in a unique position to bid on the open frequencies, which happen to be prime for wireless communication. While the normal players like AT&T and Verizon will obviously be looking to bid on this spectrum, a new player announced their interest, Google.

Let me quickly give a non-technical interlude on why one would want to bid on a range of frequencies. The electromagnetic spectrum is very wide in comparison to what is being auctioned by the FCC. It includes all waves from Infrared to visible light to Ultraviolet. Depending on the frequency of the wave, the wave exhibits different characteristics. The higher frequency waves travel considerably shorter than lower frequency waves among other differences. The FCC has taken the radio wave portion of the spectrum and allocated different bands to different purposes. check out this PDF from the FCC to take a closer look:

While some of the spectrum is left open to the public to use devices like ham radios, cordless phones, and wifi, most of it is privately used. Among these private uses are Cell Phone infrastructures. This lets the owners decided to either use the frequencies to build a cell network or lease the frequencies to other companies. As you can imagine, buying spectrum is quite expensive. When cell phones were first introduced not many companies had the available resources and know how to make buying this spectrum correct. The few that did were able to gain control of large quantities of frequencies and have not let go of them since.

This leads us to present times, where a few monopolies own the entire available cell phone spectrum in the usa. There is virtually no way for competitors to create their own (profitable) networks. Think about it, the available spectrum is gone, and while you can become a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator where you lease infrastructure of other companies), what do you think would happen if you started to steal profits from the company you were leasing from? (Granted it is more complicated can this, and I am not an MVNO expert, but the profit margins seem to plateau much lower than if you operated your own network, youll probably end up like Ampd mobile).

So companies like AT&T, Verizon, TMobile, and Cingular (oh wait, AT&T eliminated that problem) have no fear of young upstarts stealing their profits. Further, though these companies are definitely competing with themselves over market share, they are able to implicitly collude with each other to keep profit margins high. Telecommunication companies have a golden ticket right now, why would they kill their profit margins by lowering prices like HDTV producers were forced to do? Because of lack of competition these monopolies have no need to either significantly lower prices or significantly increase features that would cost a lot to implement. It is good for these companies to prevent competition.

FCC auctions have happened before and not scared the big guns however. Why would they? Actually, its been just the opposite. Who else is going to bid billions of dollars on radio spectrum and actually make it profitable? There were no other companies that could afford to bid on spectrum as it came open, and thus the monopolies could remain that way.

This self-surviving prophecy could come to an end in the upcoming election. With the increase of wireless data network technology and usage, other companies are becoming interested. And there is once such company that aims to act on its Motto Do no Evil and bring the power back to the people. In the next article we will take a look at Google's plans and motives.

watch for the latest updates and learn more about wireless communications at http://www.freedwireless.com

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Wi-Fi in the Third World

The world of wireless ISP's is quickly growing. wireless access points seem to be sprouting up over night, showing up on more and more radio antennas and water towers. The number of companies offering cheap, fast, reliable, wireless internet is also on the rise as people seek out alternatives to broad band and fiber optics.

While Americans see this growing trend as an increase in convenience. Allowing them to read the morning news on their laptop as they sip coffee at their favorite coffee shop. Or write an email while sitting in the park. The rise of wireless internet is also providing the less fortunate with what most of the developed world takes for granted.

Kofi Annan, who served for ten years as the secretary general of the U.N., stated during his term that wireless internet would play an important role in developing countries where money and resources were scarce. Annan was quoted saying "It is precisely in places where no infrastructure exists that Wi-Fi can be particularly effective, helping countries to leapfrog generations of telecommunications technology and infrastructure and empower their people." He also went on to comment on the many companies currently working with the U.N. on bringing wireless internet technologies to those third world countries who are struggling to bring themselves into the technological modern age.

building the infrastructure needed for fiber optics or cable internet services presents most of the poorer countries of the world with an expensive solution to their technological needs. not only are construction and material costs presenting those considering internet services with a problem. But most existing homes and buildings in these countries are old, dilapidated, poorly constructed structures and difficult to work with. On top of that there are all the small costs of ethernet cables, and modems which most of those targeted could never afford.

Wi-Fi offers a solution that is both quick and cheap. Installation of wireless access points wouldn't take nearly as long to put in place and the cost would be considerably less. With the help of companies like Intel and the World Bank, both of whom attended the U.N. discussions, such a lofty goal does not appear out of reach. Intel has already test marketed wireless in a handful of developing countries. Should these test turn out to be a positive experience for both Intel and it's test markets, it's not difficult to see a further penetration into the third world.

The race is on to install hot spots around the world. Places like China and India present massive markets with 40 to 50 million PC's ready to be part of the global network. This number is likely to increase as PC,s and laptops become cheaper and more available. This growth corresponds with the worlds continuing lust for information.

Annan called upon those in the industry to come up with a plan for building and providing Wi-Fi for the less fortunate. He also called upon those in attendance to discover the obstacles to such a proposition and a solution to overcoming those obstacles.

Wi-Fi seems like such an obvious solution to the worlds technological unbalance. It's easy to overlook those people who live in poorer countries without the basic necessity's of the computer age. Some of these countries are decades behind in both technology and resources. traveling abroad makes this disparity even more apparent. Finding an internet connection in some of the poorer countries is a real chore. It's a lofty goal to try and bring some balance to a world, such as the technological one, where the difference between those that have and those that have not, is so night and day. Bringing Wi-Fi to developing countries is a good start to this long and arduous task.

Sven currently deals with wireless management solutions and wisp billing

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