US FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has spoken to a civic group at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus about the upcoming spectrum auction, giving hope to companies and groups which are seeking open access or other special rules. Martin offered verbal support for the plan (largely pushed by Frontline) that gives a commercial provider spectrum in exchange for providing network coverage for emergency workers. “Public safety (agencies are) coming to us to say they don’t have the resources to build out a next-generation (wireless) network…The question is one of how to work with private sector,” said Martin according to Reuters. 24 Mhz has been set aside solely for public safety communications.
Martin also said that “it is important to use the upcoming auction to make sure there is more than just two competitors” and that two-thirds of the spectrum (40 MHz) would be reserved for smaller, local players to bid on while the rest (20 MHz) would be available to bigger communications players “with an eye toward ensuring that major regional or even a single national player emerges that can compete effectively with established phone and cable carriers”.
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