Recent announcements concerning wireless spectrum allocation and use are positive steps in providing advanced wireless services for consumers and public safety. On this month's WOW we sat down with CTIA's Ass't VP, Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann to discuss these proposals, and the importance of spectrum planning for U.S. subscribers and the industry. To learn more watch this segment from our March installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in this month's WOW.  

This afternoon, 27 companies (including carriers, manufacturers, suppliers, operating system developers, content providers) and associations signed a letter thanking the FCC and the Broadband Team for their hard work on the National Broadband Plan. They were given a difficult task and they have been working tirelessly to deliver a comprehensive product.

Specifically, these companies applauded them for the 500 MHz of spectrum as it will be vital to keeping pace with the tremendous demand from consumers and other industries such as healthcare, transportation, energy, and education. This move diverted the brewing spectrum crisis. Instead, the FCC and the Broadband Team have ensured our industry remains the world’s most competitive and innovative in the world.  

We also support efforts to revitalize the Universal Service program. While we all may not ultimately agree on every aspect of the Universal Service Fund proposal, we are encouraged and support efforts to bring the program into the 21st century and support the provision of mobile broadband to America.     

The supporting companies are:

• Alcatel-Lucent (Corporate headquarters in Murray Hill, NJ)
• AT&T (Corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX)
• Bluegrass Cellular, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Elizabethtown, KY)
• Cellcom (Corporate headquarters in Green Bay, WI)
• Clearwire Corp. (Corporate headquarters in Kirkland, WA)
• Cricket Communications, Inc./Leap Wireless International, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in San Diego, CA)
• CTIA – The Wireless Association® (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• Ericsson Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Plano, TX)
• Google Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Mountain View, CA)
• Illinois Valley Cellular (Corporate headquarters in Marseilles, IL)
• Microsoft, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Redmond, WA)
• Motorola, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Schaumburg, IL)
• Nex-Tech Wireless, LLC (Corporate headquarters in Hays, KS)
• Nokia Inc. (Corporate headquarters in White Plains, NY)
• Nokia Siemens Networks US LLP (Corporate headquarters in Irving, TX)
• Qualcomm (Corporate headquarters in San Diego, CA)
• RIM (Corporate headquarters in Irving, TX)
• Rural Telecommunications Group, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• Sprint Nextel (Corporate headquarters in Overland Park, KS)
• Stelera Wireless (Corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City, OK)
• Syniverse Technologies (Corporate headquarters in Tampa. FL)
• Telecommunications Industry Association (Corporate headquarters in Arlington, VA)
• T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in Bellevue, WA)
• U.S. Cellular (Corporate headquarters in Chicago, IL)
• Verizon Communications, Inc. (Corporate headquarters in New York, NY)
• Wireless Communications Association International (Corporate headquarters in Washington, DC)
• WestLink Communications, LLC (Corporate headquarters in Ulysses, KS)

To read the full letter, please click here.

I issued the following statement today after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce mark-up of the Radio Spectrum Inventory Act (H.R. 3125) and the Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act (H.R. 3109):

“CTIA and the wireless industry appreciate the leadership by Chairman Henry Waxman and Ranking Member Joe Barton for scheduling a mark-up on these two very important spectrum bills. We look forward to these bills being scheduled for a vote before Congress as they are important pieces in ensuring this industry is able to continue to thrive and invest in the U.S. economy.

“As we have said many times before, spectrum is our industry’s backbone which fuels the ‘virtuous cycle’ of innovation. By identifying current spectrum users and expeditiously relocating them to other bandwidths, the Committee is ensuring our country remains the world’s most competitive and innovative wireless industry. 

“With the continued demand by consumers for mobile Internet along with the increasing use by other industries to improve productivity and efficiency, today’s mark-up was an important step to meet the growing demand.”

Today, I issued the following statement after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s speech where he announced several accessibility initiatives for persons with disabilities as part of the National Broadband Plan:
 
“CTIA and the wireless industry appreciate Chairman Genachowski’s and the Broadband team’s dedication to developing the National Broadband Plan which recognizes the tremendous potential that wireless broadband services offer. Mobile Internet to the person significantly improves the quality of life for individuals with disabilities through new opportunities in employment, education, health care, and public safety. CTIA and our member companies agree with the FCC that all Americans should have equal access to wireless communications. This is why we’re committed to providing consumers with disabilities an array of products and services to meet their needs.
 
“As we have said many times before, the innovation and competition within the U.S. wireless ecosystem ensures all consumers benefit, including the accessibility community. As wireless carriers compete with each other on service plans and mobile devices for individuals with disabilities, they are providing this community with innovative offerings – such as built-in accessibility features, compatibility with Assistive Technology (“AT”) or downloadable applications to replace expensive, immobile assistive communication devices at significantly lower prices. 
 
“Most importantly, due to the wireless industry’s commitment to key accessibility issues, a recent survey showed that we’ve seen the prior barriers for people with disabilities’ adoption of wireless lowered and their satisfaction with wireless services and products increase. When the Commission recommended that government entities offer incentives to make wireless devices, services, and applications more accessible to individuals with disabilities, they clearly recognized the important contribution wireless technologies have provided this community.
 
“The wireless industry looks forward to working with the Chairman, the Administration, Congress, and the accessibility community to ensure people with disabilities have the equal opportunities and benefits from the most competitive and innovative industry in the world.”

Information is critical for emergency care providers, and there's a new way of connecting first responders with the emergency room, via wireless. On this month's WOW see how wireless broadband is providing real-time data transmission that can be the difference between life-and-death. To learn more watch this segment from our March installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in this month's WOW.  

For those of you who have children like me, we don’t need studies to tell us that our kids are increasingly using their mobile devices for everything from sending a text to updating their social network profiles. 

A couple of weeks ago, we filed comments  to the FCC highlighting the role wireless plays in empowering parents and protecting children in an evolving media landscape. Our kids need to be prepared for an increasingly digitized and mobile future. Our industry is already providing and enabling many innovative and beneficial tools for children such as:

• Communications - Voice calling, voicemail, text messaging, e-mail, photo and video sharing, social networking, blogs.
• Safety - Access to emergency and public safety services and related safety information, campus safety, access to Wireless AMBER Alert™ notifications.
• Education – Access to thousands of educational apps, including language and literacy programs, educational games, and downloadable books. Mobile broadband access also enables enhanced classroom learning through mobile assignments and electronic scheduling, real-time polling and feedback, classroom blogs and photography projects, language learning exercises, lecture recording and podcasting, expanded scientific research options, and remote/distance learning opportunities.
• Health - Access to health care information, nutrition and fitness apps, child health and prenatal care apps, “pillbox” reminders, chronic disease assistance.
• Accessibility - Text-to-speech, voice activation, closed captioning, text and instant messaging applications, predictive text, word completion and spell check, customizable font and user interface features, alternate entry devices, TTYs, adaptive keyboards, screen readers, magnifiers, translators.
• Civic Participation/Skills Development - Access to documents and information about historical people and issues, information about the branches of government, political campaign information, general news and information sources, job training, content creation.

While mobile technology offers many benefits for children, we also recognize that some kids may use the technology in an irresponsible or harmful manner. Protecting children online and in mobile environments is a challenging task for everyone – especially parents. In addition to numerous parental controls and tools from wireless carriers, CTIA and The Wireless Foundation have introduced a series of initiatives, such as Get Wise About Wireless, to educate parents, teachers, and kids about responsible and safe mobile use. 

As CTIA and the wireless industry continue to prepare America’s youth for an increasingly digitized mobile future, we believe the FCC can help in this process by:

• Taking inventory of other government agencies and the private sector related to educating children on mobile media literacy and responsible online practices, and encourage and assist schools, libraries and other stakeholders to participate in that education process.
• Seeking opportunities to coordinate with government efforts (wherever possible), building on its recent cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Education in developing the Net Cetera online safety guidebook for parents. 
• Coordinating with other agencies to encourage schools to review and update their existing technology policies to integrate mobile technologies and educational applications.
• Highlighting the use of mobile devices as an additional platform for communicating with students.
• Working together with other federal and state agencies to encourage librarians and teachers to utilize handheld devices and digital downloads to expand the reach of school libraries.
• Modifying the E-Rate and Lifeline and Link-Up programs to maximize opportunities for wireless broadband and mobile applications that otherwise fit within the scope of those programs.

Back in September 2009, CTIA and other industry members provided the FCC with extensive evidence on the status of competition, investment, and innovation in the wireless ecosystem. A lot has changed since then and so a few weeks ago, we submitted an update to those filings.

As the Commission works on the 14th annual CMRS Competition Report, CTIA took an opportunity to highlight our industry’s numerous changes and upgrades to networks, handsets, and applications that benefit consumers.

4G Innovation & Investment

• Sprint/Clearwire have continued its 4G expansion in the last quarter of 2009 with new WiMax deployments in Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, Charlotte, and Philadelphia, among other cities.
• In the development and deployment of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G standard, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Cox Communications continue to test their LTE networks for commercial availability by end of 2010/beginning of 2011.

Robust Device Market

• In the second quarter of 2009, 28% of all handsets sold were smart phones.
• Google’s open source mobile platform, Android, has stormed onto the smart phone scene with new devices by HTC, Motorola, and Samsung, in addition to Google’s NexusOne.
• Manufacturers are enabling devices to use technologies outside of the licensed wireless networks. Research in Motion (RIM) recently released its first Blackberry smart phone with support for both 3G connectivity and voice calls over Wi-Fi. Similarly, Apple lifted restrictions on iPhone and iPod Touch VoIP functionality.
• AT&T announced it has certified more than 370 wireless specialty consumer and machine-to-machine devices through 2009, including netbooks, eReaders, personal navigation devices, digital picture frames, and smart grid devices. 

Dramatic Growth in Applications Market

• Since Apple’s App Store was launched in July of 2008, more than three billion of its more than 130,000 applications have been downloaded.
• In December 2009, downloads from the Android Market and Apple’s App Store increased more than twenty-two percent and fifty percent, respectively, over November.
• Now, there are more than 170,000 applications available, almost 28% more than were available when CTIA filed its original competition comments.
• In 2010, consumers are projected to spend $6.2 billion in mobile application stores worldwide to download over 8 billion applications – of which, 8 out of 10 will be free. By 2013, worldwide downloads from mobile application stores will surpass 21 billion.

The “Price War”: Innovative Pricing Plans Add Choice and Flexibility
As consumers keep pace with the rapid cycle of technological innovation, providers also are innovating in terms of the range of service options available to consumers.

• During the first month of 2010, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and US Cellular reduced the price of their unlimited nationwide voice plans. T-Mobile provides similar unlimited plans at $50 for individuals and $80 for a family plan. Sprint has unlimited talk, text, and data plans for $100.
• In addition to innovations in pricing, providers have responded to consumer demand for more flexibility within - and without - contracts. MetroPCS, Boost Mobile, Pocket, and Cricket offer contract-free wireless service with unlimited talk, text, and data plans between $40-$50. Verizon Wireless announced three new pre-paid plans for wireless broadband while T-Mobile offers a pre-paid BlackBerry with unlimited talk, text, and data without a contract for $80/month.
• Yet another provider innovation in wireless plans gives consumers access to emerging smart phone technology while maintaining the handset subsidy that makes new smart phones readily available to anyone. T-Mobile has introduced a tiered program for all post-paid customers that allow them to upgrade to a new smart phone at any time with a subsidy based on the time remaining on their contract.

The tremendous developments over the last six months clearly demonstrate that the “virtuous cycle” of the wireless ecosystem is alive and healthy. Driven by the intense competition of the industry and the FCC’s long-standing, flexible, market-driven policies, this cycle will continue to thrive and help maintain America’s global leadership in wireless. 

Today, CTIA's Senior Vice President and General Counsel Michael Altschul issued the following statement after he testified on location-based services before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet and Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection:

“For more than fifteen years, CTIA has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure location privacy while balancing the legitimate needs by law enforcement and in cases of emergency. Along with our members and other interested parties, we voluntarily developed the industry’s ‘Best Practices and Guidelines’ in 2008 that would promote and protect the privacy of wireless customers’ location information. 

“When the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Enhancement Act of 1999 was passed, there was a widely held assumption that location-based services would involve a wireless carrier having access to a user’s location information and then using or sharing that information to provide a location-based service. Due to the rapid evolution toward open platforms, the tremendous consumer adoption of smart phones, and the increased prevalence of GPS-enabled location-based service applications that can be downloaded and enabled without any involvement or knowledge by a wireless carrier, CTIA is in the midst of updating the guidelines. While the new guidelines have yet to be finalized, rest assured they will balance public safety’s needs with consumers’ privacy. 

“As technology continues to evolve, we would encourage Congress to clarify the terms under which location information may be released to law enforcement. When dealing with these issues, we also urge Congress to recognize the interstate nature of location-based services and the mobility of wireless users so they take a national approach so customers’ privacy are maintained while fostering innovation, investment, and the introduction of new location based services by wireless carriers, device manufacturers, operating systems developers, and applications creators.”