Educators and Broadband Providers for American Rural Communities Educational Broadband Service EBS

Transcription

1 Educators and Broadband Providers for American Rural Communities Educational Broadband Service EBS Creating Value Keep Wireless Spectrum dedicated to Education, or Transfer it to Commercial Interests? Robert Finch

2 History of the Educational Broadband Service EBS Established by FCC as Instructional Television Fixed Service for educational TV ITFS Wireless Cable TV Excess capacity leasing allowed and Wireless Cable TV launches s 1990s Wireless Cable gives way to two-way fixed Internet access Fixed Internet Fixed & Mobile The FCC approves new two-way fixed and mobile wireless rules The FCC releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking impacting areas of the country unserved or underserved by 2.5 GHz EBS NPRM 2

3 Option 1: Wireless for Students and Staff Built and Operated by Educators Albemarle County, VA University of Northern Michigan Kings County, CA Palm Beach and Broward Counties, FL 3

4 Educational Use: Kings County Office of Education Kings County, CA Population 149,407 1,382 Sq. Miles Agriculture MHI: $46,481 Persons in Poverty: 22.4% KCOE Public Schools Students: 28,368 Schools: 65 Minority: 78% 50% Qualify for Free and Reduced Meals Student Teacher Ratio 22:1

5 Educational Use: Kings County Office of Education Corcoran Academic Results

6 Educational Use: Kings County Office of Education Reef-Sunset Unified School District Academic Results Year 1

7 Option 2: Lease and Retain Educational Capacity School also generally receives payments from operator Sprint Sprint has constructed 4G LTE Mobile Wireless Cellular networks covering about 60% of the U.S population WISPS >50 Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPS) and other operators have constructed fixed wireless networks In each case commercial operator must allocate at least 5% of system capacity to local educational use 7

8 Benefits of Existing EBS Structure Some educational institutions building their own wireless internet systems Hundreds of schools and colleges leasing to Sprint and dozens of rural fixed wireless operators and serving >100,000 rural customers Free internet connections provided by rural operators to educators and students Royalty payments from wireless operators to schools and colleges 8

9 Wireless Channels for Education Salmon colored channels are EBS Green and Blue channels are Broadband Radio Service BRS (for commercial license holders) License = 22.5 MHz 50 Mbps good broadband service 9

10 Example- EBS License Coverage Split football between adjacent licenses 35 mile radius disc is starting point 10

11 National EBS Opportunity Existing license 11 License Expansion Available for Application

12 Too Many Areas Not Yet (EBS) Licensed 12

13 Virginia Counties Open for New EBS 13 Licenses Amelia Grayson Patrick Bath Halifax Richmond Bland Hanover Russell Buchanan Henrico Scott Caroline King and Queen Smyth Carroll King George Tazewell Chesterfield Lancaster Warren Clarke Lee Washington Dickenson Mathews Westmoreland Essex Middlesex Wise Frederick Northumberland Wythe

14 FCC s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking The FCC currently seeks comment on establishing three local priority filing windows for new EBS License issuance: 1. A window for existing licensees, allowing them to marginally expand their service to fill census tracts or counties that they partially cover 2. A window for tribal nations located in rural areas; 3. A window for educational entities that do not currently hold any 2.5 GHz Licenses 14

15 Proposed Rules Will Lead to EBS Becoming a Commercial, not Educational, Service FCC proposed third filing window will create mutually exclusive applications result will be auctions Sprint entities won 74% of licenses in GHz Auction Sprint has not been building EBS-based wireless systems in small cities, towns or rural areas FCC should have a first-come-first-served application window Schools and Colleges have been waiting since 1995 Possibly the FCC will move straight to auctions and make educational reservation obsolete If schools and small rural operators petition the FCC and Congress, there is still time to preserve EBS 15

16 Impacts of Current NPRM Educational institutions could be stripped of a opportunity that was already given to other schools and colleges in roughly 50% of the U.S Process would lead to direct commercial auctions (most likely won by Sprint) Spectrum would continue to go unused in areas where it s needed No solution to wireless internet coverage in rural American communities 16

17 Educators and Broadband Providers for American Rural Communities () Commercial operators and schools that do not hold licenses partner to encourage FCC and Congress to expand, not withdraw benefits education and rural communities Goal - to influence the FCC to issue new licenses to educational institutions at the earliest possible date No cost to educators 17

18 Benefits of Obtaining an EBS License Licenses can be used to provide broadband access to unserved or underserved areas benefitting students, faculty and the community Generate royalty income by leasing to commercial operators Operators will provide service credits and/or free wireless devices License holders can build their own network to support their educational mission 18

19 Why Matters Additional push from new potential license holders and commercial operators is needed to push for progress and avoid regression at FCC Consistent with FCC & Government goals: ú Encourage broadband access in rural America ú Make more spectrum available ú Stimulate rural infrastructure improvements at zero cost to taxpayer ú Support education in rural communities 19

20 Why Schools are Joining The FCC s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking could potentially strip educational institutions of these valuable assets Many educational institutions are unaware of EBS licenses and the benefits of acquiring and holding To preserve the educational benefits of the spectrum To provide rural America sufficient wireless coverage 20

21 Next Steps for contact us at or We will be happy to provide a draft outline for a letter to send to FCC and/or Congress Work with other members of to convey unified messages to FCC and Congress 21

22 Q&A Contact: Robert Finch