Wireless carriers, broadcasters point to cell outages to support spectrum claims

{mosads}Spokesmen for AT&T and Verizon acknowledged heavy call volumes disrupted service in some areas. But they emphasized there were no reports of physical damage to their networks and service returned to normal.

In a blog post Wednesday, Steve Largent, president of CTIA-the Wireless Association, a telecommunication trade group, said the earthquake “underscored the vital need for our industry to get more spectrum.”

He said spectrum is like lanes on a highway, and cellphones are like cars. 

“Yesterday, a huge number of users were trying to use the same highway at the same time, which caused the jam,” he said. “With more spectrum, we’d have more lanes that would allow more users.”

But spectrum is a finite resource, so providing more space on the airwaves for one group means taking away spectrum from another group.

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed incentivizing local television broadcasters to give up their spectrum to make more room for wireless carriers.

The broadcasters oppose the FCC’s plan unless there are tough protections to ensure that any spectrum auctions are entirely voluntary.  

Hours after the earthquake, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) sent out a press release saying the cellphone outages proved the importance of television stations during emergencies.

“Policymakers debating spectrum policy ought to take note that the one reliable communications service during today’s earthquake was the original wireless technology — free and local broadcasting,” Dennis Warton, NAB’s vice president of communications, said.

“It’s easy to get dazzled by iPads and smartphones, but all the spectrum in the world won’t ensure reliability of the ‘one-to-one’ cellphone network architecture during an emergency. When there’s a crisis, it’s hard to replicate the reliability of the ‘one-to-everyone’ local radio and TV broadcast signal.”