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(509) 982-2181 Equipment sales (408) 907-6910 (Vonage) Consulting services 42846865 (icq) And I run my own wisp! 64.146.146.12 (net meeting) www.odessaoffice.com/wireless www.odessaoffice.com/marlon/cam ----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Snider
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 8:53 AM
Subject: [TVWHITESPACE] NAF press release A copy of the press release NAF sent out this morning. --Jim J.H. Snider, Ph.D.
MEDIA BACKGROUNDER Contact: Michael Calabrese, (202) 986-2700 (x327), [EMAIL PROTECTED] KATRINA DEMONSTRATES FAILURE OF CURRENT U.S. SPECTRUM POLICY (WASHINGTON--September 9, 2005) In recent days the press has extensively covered the telecommunications breakdown in New Orleans and the attempts of telephone, cable, and broadcast companies to reinstate service and help disaster victims. What has not been covered as extensively in the media is the lack of communications at dozens of rural Louisiana shelters and the efforts of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), which use unlicensed spectrum, to address this problem. Earlier this week, such stories were featured at a Capitol Hill forum sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Congressional Future of American Media Caucus. Rep. Diane Watson, D-CA, bemoaned the lack of telecommunications services after the storm and said that it pointed "to the serious failure and the lack of preparedness in our nation's telecommunications policy." New America Foundation Vice President Michael Calabrese added, "It is simply not affordable anytime soon to be stringing fiber lines to rural areas, but wireless networks can provide broadband communications services very quickly and inexpensively." As New Orleans is being evacuated, thousands of evacuees are streaming out into the countryside where churches and communities have set up shelters to take care of them. Unfortunately, many of these shelters lack telecommunications service. Responding to this need, dozens of rural WISPs have poured into rural Louisiana to help out. As of midday Thursday, WISPs were providing service to more than 1,100 evacuees at the following shelters: Mangham Baptist (Mangham, LA), Delhi Civic Center (Delhi, LA), Baskin First Baptist (Baskin, LA), Grace Fellowship (Baskin, LA), River of Life Church (Winnsboro, LA), Tallulah Community Center (Tallulah, LA), and Parkview Baptist (Richmond, LA). The following shelters were also expected to get service by the end of the day: King's Camp (Mer Rouge, LA), Richland Baptist Encampment (Alto, LA), Antioch Baptist (Rayville, LA), and Archibald Church of God (Archibald, LA). Mac Dearman, owner of Maximum Access, a Louisiana-based WISP organizing the WISP relief effort, reports: "All the shelters had to offer was food and shelter, but no communications of any kind. We brought in PCs, voice-over-IP phones, and the wireless broadband links to make them useful. You wouldn't believe how many hugs we got." How were they used? Mostly for people to connect with relatives. At one shelter that Dearman personally helped set up, more than a dozen families were connected. The image he remembers is a lady hugging him and nearly crying: "God bless you; we've been worried about my brother; and we found him." Jim Patient, owner of Jeffco, another WISP, was working on setting up communications at King's Camp to handle more than 80 mentally handicapped children evacuees. King's Camp had more than 30 staff but no communications of any kind. As Congress moves digital TV legislation to free up spectrum for broadband telecommunications, the lack of telecommunications services in the wake of Katrina has moved front and center. Much of the freed up broadcast spectrum could be converted to broadband use. The broadcast industry has been fighting tooth and nail to prevent this from happening in a timely fashion. Most press attention has focused on the industry's effort to delay giving back the channels Congress loaned to transition digital TV. Less well known is that the industry has also been fighting to keep as many as possible of the unused TV channels ("guard bands" between the currently used channels) for their own future use. For example, a video being distributed on Capitol Hill (www.mstv.org/static.html) argues that complete havoc will be created if unlicensed broadband devices are allowed in the unused TV channels. The FCC has initiated a rulemaking (Docket 04-186) to require these channels to be opened up for unlicensed broadband use. The broadcasters are now lobbying Congress to kill this rulemaking. Said Ed Thomas, former FCC Chief Engineer responsible for the FCC's rulemaking, "I strongly urge Congress to direct the Commission as the expert government agency to bring this proceeding to a conclusion. A golden opportunity exists to extend the social and economic benefits of broadband to all Americans. I urge Congress and the FCC not to be persuaded by the invalid self-serving claims of a few." Dearman confirmed that the low frequency spectrum occupied by the broadcasters would make his job providing rural broadband service much easer. "There is a TV station 40 miles to my West and 90 miles to my East. With this unused spectrum, we would have been able to reach a lot more shelters." At Tuesdays event, New America Foundation Senior Research Fellow, J.H. Snider released a fact sheet responding to the broadcast industry's claims to Congress. See: http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2550_1.pdf The written statement of Ed Thomas, former FCC Chief Engineer, can be found at: http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2547_1.pdf Mac Dearman, CEO of Maximum Access, LLC, located in Richland Parrish, Louisiana, can be reached at 318/728-8600. # # # |
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