Wireless

Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554

RE: Notice of Ex Parte Filing; WC Docket No. 08-7

Dear Secretary Dortch:

Public Knowledge, Free Press, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, EDUCAUSE, Media Access Project, New America Foundation, U.S. PIRG, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, and CREDO Mobile, Inc. (Public Knowledge et al.) submit this ex parte filing to respond to several recent filings by wireless providers that mischaracterize several aspects of the Petition for Declaratory Ruling to prohibit discrimination in… more

As long-time proponents of spectrum caps, PISC’s members would normally welcome AT&T’s sudden enlightenment on the valuable nature of this tool in fostering competition. But when one of the largest wireless carriers suddenly switches from consistent opposition to spectrum caps to sudden support, particularly when that carrier is vertically integrated with one of the nation’s dominant wireline providers and is a recent beneficiary of the Commission’s decision to relax even the existing spectrum screen, it calls for a healthy dose of skepticism. Contrary… more

Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554

RE: Notice of Ex Parte Filing WT Docket No. 05-265, Reexamination of Roaming Obligations of Commercial Mobile Radio Service Providers

Dear Secretary Dortch:

Public Knowledge, on behalf of the Ad Hoc Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC)submits this ex parte filing to urge the Commission to eliminate the in-market or home exception to its mobile roaming rules so that wireless consumers may receive uninterrupted mobile service when they are outside their… more

The Ad Hoc Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) respectfully submits this Petition to Dismiss or Deny the above-captioned applications. The applicants have failed to meet their burden of demonstrating how the applications, as filed, serve the public interest. To the contrary, the proposed merger is particularly problematic for consumers as competition amongst facilities-based wireless service providers in many geographic markets is expected to diminish, the availability of services to roamers will be adversely affected, and the post-merger increase in monopsony purchasing power will undermine… more

EX PARTE COMMENTS OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST SPECTRUM COALITION

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC), applauds the Commission for considering a proposal which has the potential to provide wireless broadband access to all Americans. As the Commission well knows, broadband access can have a transformative effect on people’s lives and has become a critical ingredient for education, economic development, and civic engagement. The public interest obligations the Commission intends to impose upon the proposed new AWS-3 service will advance the specific public interest goals of Section… more

The New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program is pleased to announce that the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (ISC4CWN) will be held on May 28th – May 30th, 2008 in Washington, DC. Co-hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its downtown headquarters, IS4CWN is the largest gathering of community wireless networking developers, implementers and allies working to build universal, low-cost wireless broadband networks around the world. The Summit serves as an integral… more

Although much public attention has focused on the US digital TV transition -- and the resulting reallocation of analog TV channels by auction to wireless carriers -- the US Federal Communications Commission will decide how to reallocate an even larger swath of prime TV band spectrum this year: the unused “white space” between occupied DTV channels. This reallocation of unused spectrum from broadcasting to broadband permits unlicensed access for both fixed and mobile applications.

In 2002, the FCC’s Spectrum Policy… more