Groups offer range of ideas for 700MHz auction

Several conservative think tanks and advocacy groups have also opposed the Frontline plan.

Public safety groups are not united in their views on the 700MHz auction, particularly since it became clear that Congress would not support the Cyren Call plan. However, some public safety groups have warmed to the Frontline proposal.

Frontline has recently embraced the idea of a public safety board that would oversee the network to be built, saidCharles Werner, fire chief inCharlottesville,Virginia, and a member of theInternational Association of Fire Chiefs Communications Committee.

The Frontline proposal represents "a perfect storm" that represents the best chance of a national broadband network for public safety, he said. "It also builds off a commercial model, which means you have this ever-evolving network that gives public safety ... all those technology advances that they otherwise would never have."

Without something like the Frontline plan, a public safety network may never get built,Wernersaid. Congress, with many other priorities, doesn't have the political will to build and maintain a national network, he said.

"We do not want a national broadband network built and funded by the government," he said. "This is something that's going to have to be maintained from this point on. You can't have that kind of network based on decisions that are going to change."

Other public safety officials have opposed the Frontline plan, saying it takes away local control of the network.

Leading the charge for open access rules are a group of consumer and advocacy organizations, including Public Knowledge,Consumers Union, and theConsumer Federation of America. TheAd Hoc Public Interest Spectrum Coalitionhas asked theFCCto include open access rules with 30MHz of the auctioned spectrum.

The coalition has also asked theFCCto require anonymous bidding, instead of its past practice of revealing bidders. Anonymous bidding would prevent auction participants from engaging in retaliatory bidder, the coalition argued.

TheFCCshould act "both to ensure that new spectrum is offered on an open and nondiscriminatory basis and to bring in new entrants interested in challenging the current cozy wireless oligopoly and broadband duopoly," the coalition wrote in comments to theFCC. "The 700 MHz auctions will not give birth to the much anticipated third pipe if the licenses are auctioned to the very same ... telephone and cable incumbents that dominate the wireline market."

Finally,Google Inc.has asked theFCCto allow what it calls dynamic auctions of spectrum. TheGoogleproposal would allow, but not require, winners of the spectrum auction to create their own real-time auctions. Wireless and broadband providers and customers could bid in real-time auctions for the right to use a piece of spectrum for a given period of time. A customer could pay a few cents per minute to access the spectrum,Googlesaid.

These dynamic auctions would create a more competitive broadband and wireless marketplace, allowing customers to escape long service contracts, saidRichard Whitt,Google's telecom and media counsel.

"Maybe there's a different way of providing spectrum,"Whittsaid. "I think most people will believe this is the wave of the future. You have to provide the most compelling service, and users will come to your door."