I worry about our performance vis-a-vis other countries across the whole spectrum of telecommunications, whether it's wireline, wireless, broadband, third generation, fourth generation, ultra wide band, all of these areas. I don't think we focus on it with the laser precision we should. We ought to be focusing on getting that information. I want to know that we're doing the research and the development here in the United States to the same extent as other countries. We used to look at that when mergers came before this body, but I can't remember a merger coming through here recently where there was a lot of interest in talking about that.
I'm trying to change that, because I talk to a lot of people in the research facilities of different companies, who say, "We're afraid there's basic research going on in Western Europe or in Japan or Korea or even China." I'm not telling you I have a real feel for exactly what the situation is, and I hear the statistics you cite, but I hear these other concerns, too, and we need to get a handle on that.
I think it's the responsibility of a regulatory agency to do that kind of research and to make it available to Congress, to industry, and to other interested parties around the country. I think we are charged with important policy decisions around here, and we ought to do better research and data collection to properly guide public policy.
Wave: There are a number of voluntary best practices and initiatives that have been developed by the industry, such as the wireless content guidelines, the consumer code, Wireless AMBER Alerts™, business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and so on. Are there areas that you would like to see the industry focus on to do more?
Copps: The ones you mention are important. We rely on the initiative and innovation of the industry to get involved in some of these things, and I think the area of research and data collection that I was just talking about is one such area. We already rely on the industry in this regard to a great degree, but I don't think we should be relying 100 percent on industry for the data that we use. I think there should be some collaborative effect to understand how deployment of wireless technologies is going and who is using them and all of that.
Wave: I’d like to go back to the 700 MHz auction for a moment. You support a public safety/private sector partnership to develop interoperable communication in 22 MHz of that spectrum. How do you see the role of wireless carriers evolving in that?
Copps: I’d like to talk first of all about my support for the public sector/private sector partnership. That would not have been my first choice in 2001. I think right after those planes slammed into the World Trade Center that it should have been the priority of this Commission, in its recommendations to Congress, to encourage an interoperable public safety communication network.
"We ought to be coming up with recommendations now that get people in the same tent and thinking together and discussing and compromising rather than getting everybody at everybody else's throat."
Michael Copps
FCC Commissioner
Listen to our "FCC Commissioner
Michael J. Copps" Podcast