**STATEMENT OF**

**COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL**

**Re: *Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands, ET Docket No.
04-186; Additional Spectrum for Unlicensed Devices Below 900 MHz and in
the 3 GHz Band*, *ET Docket No. 02-380***

To paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong as he became the first person to
step on the moon, today the FCC is making both a small step and a giant
leap. It will be a giant leap for American consumers to be able to use
the untapped television "white spaces." At the same time, we enter this
new frontier with a small step in the form of a prudent and cautious
order that sets up safeguards to ensure that new unlicensed devices do
not cause harmful interference with licensees and other users of these
frequencies.

While new broadband technologies are the most likely uses of these
channels, the most exciting part about our action today is that we are
creating the opportunity for an explosion of entrepreneurial brilliance.
Our de-regulatory order will allow the market place to produce new
devices and new applications that we can't even imagine today. Not only
will the lives of millions of Americans be enriched by these new
technologies, but I am confident that imaginative use of the TV white
spaces could actually improve our safety as well.

We owe this historic moment to several white spaces pioneers including
former FCC Chairman Michael Powell who initiated this proceeding four
years ago, many Members of Congress, countless entrepreneurs and, of
course, my Commission colleagues. I also acknowledge our chief engineer
and technologist, Julie Knapp, and his entire OET team. Thank you for
your patience, openness, fortitude and counsel.

To those who have expressed concern regarding the results of this
proceeding, I would like to offer them comfort in the form of the text
of today's order. As a preliminary matter, I note that the empirical
data we have studied suggests a very real potential for deployment of
new personal/portable devices, and it would be premature to either
wholly endorse or close the door entirely on future developments.
Accordingly, it is appropriate that the steps today are limited in
scope, define an outline for our future approach toward device
certification and allow for any and all changes that may be required by
future circumstances.

We have listened carefully to the arguments of broadcasters, cable TV
operators, wireless microphone companies and entertainers, and today's
order addresses their concerns. In short, all avenues of modification
and improvement remain open. And I thank my colleagues for working
collectively to strengthen and clarify these protections. In fact, as
technology improves, I expect that one day we will likely look back on
this order and think of it as quaint; but today it is state-of-the-art.

Our decision today also obviates the need for artificial government
mandates, such as those imposed on the C Block of our 700 MHz auction.
Make no mistake, I have long advocated application and device
portability as well as free and open networks. Consumers want these
features, and the market started working on delivering them years before
unnecessary, counterproductive and after-the-fact Commission mandates.
Therefore, if such mandates were not necessary then, they are even more
unnecessary after our action today. Robust unlicensed use of white
spaces will give nimble entrepreneurs the freedom to disrupt the market
in positive and constructive ways that will force incumbents to keep
pace with this new revolution. As a result, the pressure created by
dynamic competition will knock down barriers created by walled gardens
and pry open closed networks. This liberation will come about not
through increased regulation, but through increased competition. Our
ultimate shareholders, American consumers, will reap the dividends.

I also appreciate my colleagues' support for a notice of inquiry to
commence an examination of possible other limited uses of white spaces,
such as point-to-point backhaul in rural areas as a substitute for
special access. This is an idea that was raised in our original notice,
is thoroughly discussed on the record, and is already ripe for decision.
I still believe that a further notice of proposed rulemaking would have
presented us with a clearer path toward a closer examination.
Nonetheless, I hope my colleagues in the next Commission will move
forward expeditiously on what I believe to be a win-win solution.

Here is the challenge: all wireless services have to be backhauled to
the PSTN and the Internet via a network of some kind. Over the years,
some people in the tech industry, as well as some of my colleagues, have
complained about a lack of competition in the special access market
which, they allege, artificially drives up backhaul costs. Competitive
local exchange carriers (CLECs) and competitive wireless carriers
presented us with a possible solution to this challenge for rural areas
which enjoy more unused spectrum than urban areas and suffer from the
least amount of special access competition. Some form of limited white
spaces point-to-point licensing may allow entrepreneurs to find more
efficient paths for their backhaul needs while leaving the lion's share
of white spaces spectrum on the table for unlicensed users.

I am disappointed by some in the tech industry and public interest
community who seem to oppose the Commission even discussing this issue
while also complaining about the condition of the special access market.
All of us should remember that CLECs, wireless companies and their
supplier partners are also part of the tech industry and their voices
should be heard as well. Hopefully, this notice of inquiry can plant the
seeds of progress to find a workable solution that inures to the benefit
of all parties, but mainly, American consumers.

Our decision today is revolutionary. It does more than simply foster the
development of exciting new wireless services. It also has the potential
to sustain the continuing good health of an "old" technology: television
broadcasting, by protecting the interests of the millions of consumers
who continue to rely on broadcasting for their news, entertainment and
public safety information.

Accordingly, I strongly support today's order.