This just in from WISPA's attorney Steve Coran. We ended up with 120 filings. Good Job to all those that voiced your opinions.
From: members-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:members-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Coran Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 7:34 PM To: memb...@wispa.org Subject: [WISPA Members] Open Internet Update Yesterday, I was asked by a member if the FCC bothers to read the letters that are submitted to them in rulemaking proceedings. Today, I can tell you that they do. More specifically, I can tell you that WISPA's letters in the Open Internet proceeding have created a positive impact. At about 5:30 this evening, I received a phone call from Julius Knapp, Chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering & Technology, and Zach Katz, Chairman Genachowski's point person on the open Internet proceeding. I don't ever recall receiving a call from the FCC Chairman's office on these sorts of matters, much less one beginning beginning with "we've noticed that there are quite a few letters that WISPs have written." Because we are in the quiet period where we can't advocate positions, my job was listen and take notes. Here's what I heard: First, the rules the Chairman hopes to adopt (remember, he needs three votes) should not require providers to make significant changes in their network management practices. The language in the draft Order will acknowledge that "reasonable network management" should be a flexible definition. More to the point, the language in the draft Order recognizes the "unique challenges" that unlicensed fixed users face, i.e., the fact that they have no assured access to spectrum and do not control the spectrum. Zach said more than once that the rules the Chairman hopes to adopt are a beginning and not an end and future changes will be made as the competitive landscape evolves. As Zach said -- with a nod to Julie for being our "inside guy" (my words) -- the WISP community is not being ignored. Second, the draft rules will distinguish between fixed and mobile networks. Mobile is at an earlier stage than fixed and is evolving more rapidly based on business models and relationships with content and application providers. Zach also mentioned that open networks are evolving (e.g., 700 MHz C-block). He emphasized that the rules the FCC adopts will stay constant for a long period of time and that the FCC will monitor the marketplace. The takeaways: - While I can't say that the draft Order is different than it was last week, our advocacy campaign was effective enough to be noticed by Julie such that he contacted the Chairman's office and the Chairman's office called me. Its important for you, the members, to know that your voices were heard and will have an impact in this important proceeding - The draft Order acknowledges the "unique challenges" that WISPs face with respect to restrictions on bandwidth use. Not all fixed networks are the same. That was one of our messages. - The draft Order will provide for flexibility in the way WISPs (and others) manage networks. Again, that was a key point in our letters. - Our previous and fairly frequent contacts with Julie have made him a WISP advocate within the FCC with some degree of influence with the Chairman's office. Guess we are seeing how sausage is made, and looks like we are part of it. Though there are a lot of details we don't yet know, for now its nice to know that our collective brainpower and hard work can be effective. More as I hear it. Stephen E. Coran Rini Coran, PC 1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20036 202.463.4310 - voice 202.669.3288 - cell 202.296.2014 - fax <mailto:sco...@rinicoran.com> sco...@rinicoran.com - e-mail www.rinicoran.com <http://www.rinicoran.com/> www.telecommunicationslaw.com <http://www.telecommunicationslaw.com/> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and may be protected by legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of this e-mail or any attachment is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by returning it to the sender and deleting or destroying the e-mail and any attachments without retaining any copies. Thank you for your cooperation. IRS CIRCULAR 230 DISCLOSURE: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any matter addressed herein.
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