By Monica Alleven
Friday, June 15, 2007
Regardless of how it ends up being auctioned, vendors say they will be ready to serve their customers when the time comes, whether those customers are traditional wireless carriers or something else.
For all of the attention and deal-making the upcoming 700 MHz auction is attracting these days, dozens of others that will be affected by the outcome are watching from the sidelines.
The spectrum is in the upper 700 MHz range, not the lower 700 MHz band where companies such as Qualcomm’s MediaFLO already are deploying services. It’s desirable for wireless carriers because at 700 MHz, fewer base stations are required than at higher ranges, making it more economical for buildouts. But numerous other parties also are interested in the spectrum, as evidenced in FCC filings. Everyone from Cyren Call Communications to Frontline Wireless and Google are giving advice on how to use the spectrum.
DO OR DIE
The stakes are high. FCC commissioners say it may be one of the most significant FCC actions in this decade. It’s even compelled a presidential candidate, John Edwards, to write a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin calling, in part, for as much as half of the spectrum to be set aside for wholesalers that can lease access to smaller startups. Indeed, negotiations over 700 MHz rules were blamed for the FCC’s April 25 meeting becoming an evening gathering rather than starting at the traditional morning time.
Among the more neutral players in the cacophony of lobbyists trying to affect the outcome of the auction is Nortel. The company has been sending executives to Washington, D.C., mainly to serve as educators around technologies that could be deployed in the space. Those include OFDM/MIMO and others around WiMAX, as well as evolutions of the GSM and CDMA technologies in long-term evolution (LTE) and ultramobile broadband (UMB), respectively.
“We are keeping a very close eye on where the 700 MHz auction goes,” says Danny Locklear, director of Nortel wireless product marketing. “We see this 700 MHz space as being a very large opportunity for us,” as well as for the overall U.S. market, where it will add more competition and improvements for end-users.
It’s important for companies like Nortel to be involved now, he explains, because typically there is an 18-month cycle from the time standards are developed to the actual product. Delivering products for a new or different band of spectrum is nothing new; vendors know how to do it, but it still takes time, not only in the hardware but software as well.
| Cacophony of Opinions |
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Edwards: Set aside
half of spectrum for
small startups. |
Martin: Auction must
move ahead by.
Jan. 28, 2008 |
Locklear: Need
18 months for
standards setting. |
Nortel engineers now are engaged in putting together product plans to enable existing technologies, such as EV-DO, to be supported at 700 MHz. The company sold off its UMTS base station business last year, but it remains involved in the core network products, including those for UMTS, Locklear says. Core products include network routers and backhaul facilities.
Once the auction takes place – and the FCC is mandated to make it happen no later than Jan. 28, 2008 – the 700 MHz realm likely will be dominated by the current large infrastructure manufacturers, but it also can provide an opportunity for those that have fallen out of the top 2 or 3 base station vendor rankings to pursue the market in a more specialized fashion, says Larry Swasey, senior analyst at Visant Strategies.
“In many cases, if not most, mobile operators like to stick with who they know so if the 700 MHZ carriers are also on the other bands today, it means they will likely continue with those vendors they have used at 800 MHZ or even 1.9 GHz,” he says. “The wild card will be those carriers looking to do something different on that band and/or do not have cellular interests in other bands and are therefore not committed to a large investment in what’s already in the ground and can be a little more aggressive in trying infrastructure from a new array of vendors entering the 4G fray.”
ZTE USA, a relative newcomer to the U.S. infrastructure market, is watching the 700 MHz proceedings as well, says Chief Technology Officer Li Mo. But it’s difficult to move forward too much because the spectrum is still “up in the air,” so to speak, he adds.
WINNER-NEUTRAL
For many vendors, it doesn’t matter who ultimately gets the spectrum. While they historically might work with wireless carriers, they’re ready to talk with cable, satellite, Internet and other companies. “They are all going to try to get this spectrum,” says Vikram Saksena, chief technology officer at Sonus Networks. But in the end, the bidders will do it because they want to provide IP, and that’s where Sonus comes in. It operates at the SIP layer and stands to benefit regardless of who wins.
Alcatel-Lucent says it has an advantage because it already serves existing customers that operate anywhere from 450 MHz to 3.5 GHz, so supplying gear for the services at 700 MHz should be a snap. In fact, the company is supplying solutions for the government in the 700 MHz band. Alcatel-Lucent’s LGS subsidiary won a broadband network equipment contract as part of the National Capital Region Interoperability Program (NCRIP) in the District of Columbia region. It is billed as the nation’s first interoperable, 700 MHz-based broadband network and will provide communications for public safety professionals using CDMA EV-DO Rev A.
Beyond government, Alcatel-Lucent has talked to a number of spectrum holders or potential holders that are looking to gain access to the 700 MHz spectrum. Those players represent a broad range of companies, says Sandip Mukerjee, vice president of strategy, marketing and communications for Alcatel-Lucent’s wireless activities. Thus far, a common theme among those interested parties is convergence. “It’s not just the radio,” he says, adding that the solutions include radios and more in Alcatel-Lucent’s portfolio.
Discussions over 700 MHz are expected to continue through the coming months, with a final ruling possibly toward the end of the summer and an auction start time anywhere between the third quarter of this year and January of next year. Even then, some of the winners of the spectrum probably won’t be moving in immediately. Analog TV users currently in the spectrum have until the first quarter of 2009 to vacate.