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/ RELATED NEWS
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1.
Feature
Story
/ Kevin Jeffrey Martin (born
December 14, 1966) is the
Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission
(FCC).
•
•
Martin was
nominated by President George W.
Bush to a Republican seat on the
Commission on April 30, 2001. He
was confirmed on May 25, 2001 and
sworn in on July 3, 2001.
•
• On March 18, 2005,
President Bush designated him as
FCC chairman, to replace Michael
K. Powell. President Bush
renominated Martin to a new five
year term on the Commission on
April 25, 2006, and he was
reconfirmed by the U.S. Senate on
November 17, 2006.
•
• Before joining the
FCC, Martin was a Special
Assistant to the President for
Economic Policy. He served on the
Bush-Cheney Transition Team and
was Deputy General Counsel for
the Bush campaign.
•
CONTINUED
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1.
Feature Story
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TVI Magazine is not responsible for the
content of external InterNet sites
 Continued02
Remarks
of FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin at CTIA
Wireless
2008••
And, as of May 2007, approximately 82
percent of the U.S. population lived in an
area of the country covered by at least
one of these mobile broadband
networks.
• •
• In addition, as of December
31, 2006, there were 22 million mobile
wireless devices capable of accessing the
Internet at broadband speeds in use in the
United States, up from only three million
the year before.
• •
• We've also seen the
introduction of innovative new products
during the past year, such as the iPhone,
which is truly a handheld mobile computer.
The iPhone can seamlessly connect to any
Wi-Fi hot spot for Internet access
service. And almost two million iPhones
have been activated on AT&T's
network.
• •
Importantly, competition in the
wireless industry has also led to lower
prices, higher usage and adoption rates,
and technological innovation. And many of
you in this room have been instrumental in
bringing the benefits of competition to
American consumers. Your contributions to
improving wireless services for the
American consumer have not gone
unnoticed.
• •
The FCC has an important role to
play in this mobile revolution as
well.
• •
During my tenure as Chairman, the
FCC has made vast amounts of spectrum
available for the next generation of
innovative wireless services. Since 2006,
we have more than doubled the amount of
spectrum previously made available for
mobile wireless services.
• •
Most recently, the Commission
auctioned spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
The sheer size of the 700 MHz Auction is a
harbinger of the benefits to come. The
Auction was the largest in FCC history and
raised a record $19.592 billion in total
bids.
• •
Even in a difficult economic
climate, revenues raised in this auction
easily exceeded congressional estimates of
about $10 billion &endash; nearly doubling
the amount Congress had anticipated would
be raised.
 •
• • The Auction drew
wide-ranging interest from a number of new
players. A bidder other than a nationwide
incumbent won a license in every
market.
• •
• 99 bidders, other than the
nationwide wireless incumbents, won 69
percent of the 1,090 licenses sold in the
auction.
• •
• And small businesses had
success in the auction as well. 55 percent
of the winning bidders in the auction
claimed designated entity bidding credits
as small businesses. These bidders won 379
(or 35 percent) of the nearly 1,100
licenses auctioned.
• •
I believe the 700 MHz auction has
the potential to transform broadband in
the same way that the PCS auction
transformed voice services 10 years ago
&endash; by injecting much-needed
competition, fostering innovation, and
taking broadband mobile.
• •
These developments will enable the
U.S. to leap ahead in broadband deployment
and spread the benefits of broadband to
all consumers. Americans living in rural
and remote areas will be able to access
the full range of content and applications
available in most urban areas. And
consumers everywhere will be able to
access the Internet wirelessly from any
location, at speeds that rival today's DSL
and cable.
• •
Although initially opposed by the
industry, the Commission also worked to
create a more open platform on a portion
of the 700 MHz spectrum. The Commission
was determined to ensure that the fruits
of wireless innovation swiftly pass into
the hand of consumers. A network that is
more open to devices and applications can
help foster innovation on the edges of the
network. As important, it will give
consumers greater freedom to use the
wireless devices and applications of their
choice when they purchase service.
• •
I believe that putting these
choices into the hands of consumers,
rather than network operators, will spur
the next phase of wireless broadband
innovation &endash; innovation that can
make us more productive, keep us
entertained, and improve our quality of
life.
• •
When adopting the open platform
requirement in the 700 MHz band, we saw it
as a rare chance to promote innovation and
consumer choice while writing on a clean
slate. We targeted only one block of the
spectrum. And since I have been Chairman,
I have opposed applying network neutrality
obligations with mandatory unbundling or
wholesale requirements to networks that
would undermine investment incentives.
This careful balancing of spurring
innovation and consumer choice while
encouraging infrastructure investment is
critical to the wireless industry's
continued impressive growth.
• •
And what we have observed since the
adoption of our 700 MHz rules is quite
outstanding. The requirement for open
access in the 700 MHz auction is leading
carriers to recognize the benefits of a
more open platform.
• •
In fact, in less than a year, many
of you have evolved from vocal opponents
to vocal proponents, embracing the open
platform concept for your entire
networks.
CENTER
PAGE
- Verizon Wireless
has committed to open its entire network
to devices and applications of consumers'
own choosing.
• •
More and more wireless providers,
including T-Mobile and Sprint through
their participation in the Open Handset
Alliance, and AT&T, are also embracing
more openness in terms of devices and
applications. Indeed, in looking at the
program for this conference, I was excited
to see a number of educational sessions
and panels focusing on the issue of
openness. This interest now appears to be
shared across the industry.
• •
In light of the industry's embrace
of a more open wireless platform, it would
be premature to adopt any other
requirements across the industry. Thus,
today I will circulate to my fellow
commissioners an order dismissing a
petition for declaratory ruling filed by
Skype that would apply Carterfone
requirements to existing wireless
networks.
• •
But, unfortunately, our work in the
700 MHz band is not done. Let me also
touch upon the Commission's commitment to
public safety in the 700 MHz band. Meeting
the needs of public safety is critically
important.
• •
During a crisis, public safety
officials need to be able to communicate
with one another. We are all aware of
problems caused by the lack of
interoperability for public safety during
recent crises &endash; like 9/11 and
Hurricane Katrina.
• •
I believe the Commission remains
committed to ensuring that we work to
solve public safety's interoperability
challenges. Because the reserve price for
the D Block was not met in the 700 MHz
auction, the FCC is now evaluating its
options for this spectrum.
• •
In conclusion, let me say that, at
the Commission, our job is to provide
ample spectrum for a range of wireless
services and a regulatory framework that
allows you &endash; the entrepreneurs,
engineers, and network operators of the
world to provide lower prices, better and
more innovative services, and more choice
to wireless consumers.
 •
• At the same time, we also
must ensure that our regulations continue
to protect consumers in this new, more
mobile world. Indeed, in some ways the
wireless industry is a victim of its own
success. Because with increased success
often comes increased expectations.
• •
Today, to your credit, wireless is
no longer seen as a luxury, but as a vital
means of everyday communication. And the
public has growing expectations of how
they will be able to use wireless to meet
their everyday needs. For example, E911
ensures that when someone dials 911 during
an emergency, public safety can easily and
reliably find them. To achieve that goal,
we need to ensure that our enhanced 911
rules provide meaningful automatic
location information that permits first
responders to reliably find them.
• •
We all know that people are relying
on cell phones for more and more of their
calls, including calls to 911. CTIA
estimates that since the 1996
Telecommunications Act, 911 calls placed
annually from wireless phones have
increased six fold (from 55,000 to
290,000). The advances in wireless
technology allow people to call for help
more quickly and from more remote places
than ever before. We need to make sure
that our location accuracy requirements
keep apace with these changes so that
consumers can take advantage of all the
opportunities wireless technology has to
offer.
• •
I believe this is an opportunity
for the wireless industry and a harbinger
of even more success. In the end, I am
confident the wireless industry will rise
to the occasion and I look forward to
working with you and my fellow
commissioners on this critical public
safety issue.
• •
Thank you for your time today. I
truly appreciate the invitation to be
here. CLICK
FOR MORE VERIZON'S CEO IVAN
SEIDENBERG
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