PETITION TO THE FCC AND CONGRESS TO EXAMINE FUNDAMENTAL CONCERNS OVER DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES WITH REGARDS TO POLICY AND RULE CHANGES IN THE 2.5GHZ INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION FIXED SPECTRUM (FORMERLY THE ITFS, NOW THE EDUCATIONAL BROADBAND SERVICE (EBS)) THAT ALLOWED SPRINT AND CLEARWIRE (NOW “CLEAR”) TO ACQUIRE NATIONWIDE RIGHTS TO THIS VALUABLE COMMUNITY SPECTRUM.

RE: LICENSED BROADBAND SPECTRUM (2.5GHz EBS) THAT WAS ALLOWED TO BE TAKEN FROM OUR LOCAL COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, SCHOOL BOARDS, CHURCHES AND SUBSEQUENTLY OUR CITIZENS, COMMUNITIES, MUNICIPALITIES, CITIES AND COUNTIES

PARTICIPATORY AND INVESTIGATIVE AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS: THE FCC, US CONGRESS, THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NTIA, THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RUS, THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT (ARRA), THE BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM (BTOP)

PETITION WEBSITE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/WiMAX-BTOP-EBS-Spectrum

ATTENTION: ALL AMERICAN CITIZENS, THEIR COMMUNITIES, MUNICIPALITIES, CITIES AND COUNTIES AND ADMINSTRATORS OF BTOP

Forward:
This petition is offered for those who would like to indentify current assets available to facilitate development and deployment of a new “U.S. Broadband Plan for the Future”. Given the nature of this task it is important to bring to light recently invoked FCC policy and rule changes that will directly affect the path to viable solutions in attaining this goal.

Introduction

Almost 40 years ago the FCC assigned a piece of spectrum for which our local colleges, universities, school boards, churches and other non-profits could broadcast educational material and other distributed informational or distance learning content. This spectrum was referred to as the Instructional Television Fixed Spectrum (ITFS) and operated in the 2.5GHz band. The non-profits were FCC licensees of that spectrum. No monies or fees were required from non-profits to use this spectrum.

In 2004, the FCC made changes to policy and rules regarding this spectrum and made it available for commercial broadband services. It is now called the Educational Broadband Service (EBS). This wireless spectrum (referred to as 2.5GHz EBS or 2.5GHz band) is very suitable for fixed, nomadic and mobile broadband communications and internet access more commonly known as 4G or WiMAX.

Needless to say, as a result of the policy and rule changes this spectrum went from swamp land to ocean front property overnight. As part of the new rule changes the non-profit licensees still maintained control of their spectrum license and had the option of leasing the spectrum to qualified bidders.

These EBS licensees were immediately approached by Sprint Nextel and/or Clearwire with checkbooks in hand, as non-profit EBS licensees (our non-profits) clamored to check on the status of their current EBS license with the FCC. In most cases, these licenses needed to be renewed and in some cases the licensee (non-profit Boards of Trustees) was not even aware they had rights to this Community asset.

At this time Sprint/Nextel and Clearwire aggressively pursued long term lease arrangements with then current licensees of the EBS spectrum. This licensed spectrum was well suited for Wi-Fi’s big brother WiMAX, which was gaining strength in the marketplace as the next generation wireless technology.

These non-profits were told by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire that the costs involved in building out development and deployment of their spectrum would be very high so in the eyes of the decision makers, namely Boards of Trustees (who, in most cases, are dis-attached from newer technology), it made sense to adhere to the lucrative offers (in their eyes) from these large companies.

If the current 2.5GHz licensees would have performed more due diligence on their asset they would have realized that the costs involved in rolling out their spectrum would have been very expensive at that time, based on product availability and standards of that time.

All they would have had to do is look at the current Wi-Fi (802.11) market to realize that more equipment manufacturers would be entering the WiMAX marketplace in the future and that costs would be reduced dramatically, much like Wi-Fi is inexpensive now. On a more simple level, due diligence could have been done by searching ‘WiMAX’ and researchers would have had all the information they needed to get started on a proper due diligence processes. And much like Wi-Fi, WiMAX will be embedded into our laptops, tablets, and other communications devices starting this year.

However, the proper due diligence and forecasting did not happen and the lure of the cash was to tempting. This also led to a snowball effect that gathered these EBS licensees in groves throughout our Country, all falling prey to questionable business tactics by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. In fact, these lease deals are also going to be investigated by congress and consumer advocacy groups and patent law suits are pending.

To paraphrase eminent outside Counsel that advised upon and completed many of these lease deals “it is all about who is offering the most money [Sprint/Nextel or Clearwire] and addressing the immediate needs of cash starved non-profits, their faculty, students, or constituents”.

It became a competition of sorts, a competition to see who could offer the most money, and of course Sprint Nextel and Clearwire had the resources and “plan” to blow local private monies and service providers away. At no point did Boards of Trustees entertain the thought of possibly being able to build out infrastructure for this spectrum on their own, partnering with Municipalities, Cities and Counties, partnering with Private Sector monies and offering low cost, high speed fixed, nomadic and mobile wireless broadband services for their citizenry, households and local businesses in the Communities, Municipalities, Cities or Counties that their spectrum covered.

As these lease deals represented a significant windfall for non-profits, it is significantly dwarfed by the amount of revenues that will be generated through WiMAX services within any geographical service area (GSA).

This valuable piece of spectrum should be given back to their respective non-profit licensees and these long term leases should be terminated. This is based upon the new economic downturn, the need for the creation of new jobs, the need for advanced broadband wireless infrastructures for our Communities, Municipalities, Cities and Counties, and most of all, the right of the American people to define their own broadband future.

The following benefits are facilitated by building out core broadband infrastructure in our Community 2.5GHz EBS (and other licensed/unlicensed) spectrum:

• Enhanced Public Safety, First Responder Applications
• High speed low cost ubiquitous fixed, nomadic and mobile broadband core wireless communications and internet access for Urban, Suburban and Rural markets
• Municipal Departmental Applications
• Reduced cost communications and internet core access for residents, businesses, visitors and tourists
• VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol using any qualified provider or proprietary build)
• Health Care and TeleMedicine Services
• Digital Access, Inclusion, Literacy Programs (Low-Income Households)
• Economic Stimulus
• Destination Market services, portals and applications
• Public access “television”
• Public Utility Services
• Deploy New Energy Technologies / Energy Management Services (EMS) / Green Initiatives
• Matching rebate scheduling and/or energy credits through the State Energy Offices
• Local business internet marketing services, residential, and community portals
 • School System Enhancements / Interoperability / Networking / Educational tools
• Public Employee Services
• VPN’s / VAR’s / Reseller Services
• Employer Outreach / Distance Learning & Training
• Exponential Job Creation by providing core communications and internet access in Urban, Suburban and Rural markets
• Visitor Services / Hospitality Packages
• Private Security / Video Surveillance / DVR Remote Access
• Digital Connectors Programs for Low-Income Individuals and Households

The Petition

  • Whereas Congress, the FCC and Boards of Trustees allowed Sprint Nextel and Clearwire (using very questionable business tactics) to coerce our local Colleges, Universities, School Boards, Churches and other non-profits into signing long term leases of their 2.5GHz EBS spectrum of which could be considered a very valuable Community asset.
  • Whereas Sprint Nextel and Clearwire dictated terms and conditions of these lease agreements and negotiated extremely undervalued monetary considerations and extended deployment timeline benchmarks.
  • Whereas Sprint/Nextel and Clearwire fully exploited unknowledgeable Boards of Trustees and provided misinformation and misleading statements regarding current Licensees ability in securing funding to build out core infrastructures using their 2.5GHz band.
  • Whereas Sprint/Nextel and Clearwire discouraged non-profits from issuing RFI’s/RFP’s that would have promoted competition, invited private sector investment, and brought CapEx down.
  • Whereas Sprint/Nextel and Clearwire used an extensive network of Lobbyists and other influences to eradicate Public participation/input and facilitate approval processes
    (http://www.muckety.com/Sprint-Nextel-Corporation/5001751.muckety).
  • Whereas Sprint and Clearwire (“Clear”) have waited themselves for CapEx to decrease to fully exploit their OEM cost basis; and anticipated this based on deployment timeline and benchmark language and stipulations contained in the lease agreements.
  • Whereas the FCC did not educate the past ITFS Association on the potential uses and value of their ITFS spectrum (now the EBS) prior to issuing policy and rule changes. (Check the status of your local EBS license)
  • Whereas the FCC saw the perpetuating trend in lease signings by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire and allowed a Monopoly to be formed. (Sprint and Clearwire merged spectral assets, approved on Election Day, 2008 by the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/transaction/sprint-clearwire.html).
  • Whereas the FCC allowed Sprint Nextel and Clearwire (and their Spectrum Holding Companies) to obtain long term lease rights to the EBS spectrum in over eighty-five (85%) percent of major Metropolitan Service Areas (MSA’s) and markets within the United States.
  • Whereas the FCC knew that the 2.5GHz band would facilitate 4G/WiMAX deployments and the FCC allowed Sprint and Clearwire to squash any chance of competitive bids in this arena.
  • Whereas the Boards of Trustees as decision makers for the non-profits (licensees) were unaware, uneducated, unknowledgeable, naïve, dis-attached and coerced in their decision making processes in leasing their spectrum to Sprint Nextel and Clearwire.
  • Whereas the Boards of Trustees made decisions based solely upon the monetary needs of their constituency without taking into account the needs for ubiquitous broadband wireless services for local Communities, Municipalities, Cities and Counties within their Geographical Service Area (GSA – 35 mile radius per license).
  • Whereas the Boards of Trustees did not realize the value of their asset and did not perform any forecasting  for potential OpEx, CapEx or Revenue models based on information available at the time.
  • Whereas the Boards of Trustees and Congress, in their assignments, did not perform proper due diligence on the potential value of this asset to the general populous of Communities, Municipalities, Cities or Counties in which their spectrum covered. (35 mile radius per license).
  • Whereas the Boards of Trustees and Congress did not invite increased levels of Public participation, input and comment periods prior to lease signings.
  • Whereas Sprint Nextel, Clearwire and Boards of Trustees did not provide details of their lease arrangements to the Public.

The Petitioners demand:

  • Complete accountability, oversight and transparency regarding current lease arrangements with our local EBS licensees including public posting of all lease agreements, monetary considerations, GSA coverage areas, timelines and benchmarks.
  • A complete evaluation leading to fundamental improvements in managing the 2.5GHz EBS to fully exploit the synergies available regarding the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as a whole and the potential benefits to the Department of Commerce NTIA and Department of Agriculture RUS Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) as prescribed by the ARRA.
  • A complete investigation and interviews of Boards of Trustees and assignees involved in the decision making processes regarding long term leases of their Community 2.5GHz EBS spectrum.
  • A complete review of EBS licensees and licenses, how they are currently utilizing their spectrum and current availability of upper channel licenses that may not be under lease.
  • A complete revamp of this flawed and discriminatory process allowing current EBS licensees to issue new RFI’s/RFP’s regarding build out of core infrastructure in their licensed EBS 2.5GHz spectrum and other synergistic licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
  • A complete revamp of this flawed and discriminatory process allowing formation of local Public/Private Partnerships to oversee and provide transparency regarding all aspects of network development, deployment and operations.
  • A complete revamp of this flawed and discriminatory process allowing Private Sector Investment to evaluate, advise upon, and provide funding for Community, Municipal, City or County wide broadband infrastructures using the 2.5GHz, 5.nGHz, 4.9GHz, 2.4Ghz and other licensed or unlicensed bands.
  • A complete restructuring of the lease agreements allowing Sprint and Clearwire, amongst other service providers, application service providers, resellers and VAR’s to lease use on the spectrum.

This is an extremely important issue and if the American people do not speak up now we will be ever beholding to our Telecommunications and Cable behemoths that now control our broadband future. We are the asset here and we need to be in control… to keep costs low, and define our own broadband futures.

Thank you,
Brad Bowman
Program Director, AccessDelray.org
http://www.accessdelray.org
bbowman@accessdelray.org


Links and Other Information:

PETITION WEBSITE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/WiMAX-BTOP-EBS-Spectrum

Checking the Status of Your Current Local EBS (2.5GHz) Spectrum License
You can view the status of your current local EBS license by visiting the FCC’s Universal Licensing System. Here are step by step instructions:

  • Click on above link or paste to browser.
  • In the ‘Call Sign & Radio Services’ select the ‘Match only the following radio service(s):’ button.
  • In the box below that, scroll down and select only the ‘ED – Educational Broadband Service’
  • Page/Scroll down the to ‘Frequencies’ section. Select the button ‘Range’ and enter ‘2495’ and ‘2650’ respectively. This is the MHz range that defines the 2.5GHz spectrum.
  • Click on ‘Geosearch’ in the bottom right hand corner.
  • Go to the ‘State/County’ select box and select your State and County.
  • Hit ‘Search’
  • When you see  Lease  or a number like L000003742 that means that spectrum (channel) has been leased. You can click through on all the other available links to learn more, view maps, etc.

Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) - Response to Request for Information

BTOP focus should be on educating the public about the true benefits of ubiquitous broadband infrastructures with emphasis on the formation of local Public/Private Partnerships (P3's) playing an integral role in establishing Community, Municipal, City or County wide broadband communications and services.

These ground level P3’s will invite carefully designed and specific criteria that will lead to streamlining the grant/loan application processes, network implementation and deployment, monitoring and transparency for BTOP initiatives in Urban, Suburban and Rural markets.

Complete Summary (HTML sectional links) - http://www.accessdelray.org

BTOP Response to RFI - Sectional Links – AccessDelray.org