|
Part of the issue for the rural markets is the
actual household density. There are some areas that on their own, will
not sustain a viable business model even if you have grant money to
fund the initial build out. The internet should be viewed as a utility.
When other utility technologies were new (electricity and telephone)
the government fought with this same exact problem. For the telephone
industry they came up with the universal services fund (USF). Areas
that qualified for this funding received monthly subsidies to balance
out the costs to make it a viable business model in those areas that
did not otherwise make the case for private enterprise to do it alone.
The Rural Electrification Act (REA) also did things to solve these
problems. It's time to do the same for the internet and broadband. Not
just one time funding for build outs, but also money to help sustain
the operations over time in markets that just can't do it otherwise. There is no magic spectrum allocation that will solve this problem. Certain areas need more spectrum for capacity and demand that is true, but spectrum policy alone will not solve the issues for areas that just don't make business sense. It's true that lower spectrum allocations propagate better, but with those characteristics also come other technical issues as well as international treaties and laws with regard to how the spectrum gets used. Spectrum management issues are a hot topic. Don't expect to see much more spectrum for little to no money. The new chairman was just speaking to the cellular industry this week and mentioned making more spectrum available (to them apparently). If that industry is wanting spectrum and are willing to pay for it, don't expect the government to give the WISP industry any for free. It's just not going to happen. We HAVE to learn to make do with what we have now. That may be in better technology, better spectrum planning among competitors, smarter antenna system and/or deployment strategies. Innovation is what created this industry in the first place. Waiting for the government to free up more spectrum as the solution is a poor way to plan on the future. Figuring out a way to make do or make things better with what we already have, is the good old American way of doing things. That will mean change and forward thinking. It's human nature to resist change and think about doing things differently. Those who can accept change more ready usually make out better, mostly due to the fact that others will resist. Those who can move quickly and capitalize on others stubbornness are usually called "innovators" :-) Thank
You, Chuck Bartosch wrote: The problem I've seen in general is that a lot of areas are cherry- picked. Anything with any reasonable density (say, the Village centers in a Town) already have access. You can't really make a business case based on what people can afford to roll out service in many areas out here because of the geography.Yet, there's public good, not just individual good, done by providing access to these folks. So, yes, I think the stimulus funding can be a good thing. The problem is, I fear it's going to be co-opted for applications that really didn't need the funding in the first place. Chuck On Oct 8, 2009, at 1:06 PM, Robert West wrote:One of my issues is that it isn't necessary. We make money at this business, or at least try to. If an area is underserved or not served, that's usually because of middle mile issues or terrain. It's all line of sight and no one, not even the people trying to start up a wisp with this "free" money, are going to put up towers every mile or so just to pump a signal into a valley with 2 or 3 homes if even that. So they will obviously be going for the "easy" areas and those are ones that we can service just fine already and probably do. The motivation is profit, it shouldn't be free money. As someone mentioned before, the majority of these new startups will be here and gone and they will no doubt give a black eye to the wireless business from their lack of experience and sense of responsibility to both their customer and the reputation of the industry they represent. The only true Broadband Stimulus would be to open up enough usable white space spectrum and the market will take care of it from there. Guaranteed. Robert West Just Micro Digital Services Inc. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tim Sylvester Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 12:43 PM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: Re: [WISPA] Barriers to WISP growth |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
