As Prepared for Delivery
This conference is about the variety of opportunities that the wireless revolution offers. For new businesses it offers the opportunities to develop and market products and services not thought of only a few years ago. For ongoing businesses, it offers new ways to economize by using wireless solutions to do everything from tracking product sales in vending machines to reading utility meters through wireless technology, instead of incurring dog-bite lawsuits. For consumers, it may offer new products: baby monitors which can track a child's breathing and warn of sudden infant death syndrome, two-way pagers and more. It also presents an opportunity to revolutionize education, to incorporate communications and computing technology into the classroom to prepare students to compete in today's information-driven economy. I look forward to all of us, especially our children, benefitting from these opportunities.
At the FCC's Office of Communications Business Opportunities, we focus on fostering opportunity through sound FCC rulemaking and outreach to the community. OCBO, focuses on issues affecting small, minority and women-owned communications businesses. Our office is a principal advisor to the Commission and resource for the public on auction issues such as the rulemakings for the C block Personal Communications Services auctions, 900 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio auctions, the MDS auctions, and more. We also advise the Commissioners and work with the Mass Media Bureau on Equal Employment Opportunity policy and other Mass Media issues which affect small businesses such as multiple ownership, duopoly, attribution rules and the introduction of new technologies such as High Definition Television. We are also involved in International communications issues such as the upcoming auctions for Digital Broadcast Satellite spectrum, and have met with delegations from the European Union and South Africa who are interested in encouraging small businesses to participate in their communications industry and in fostering diversity of viewpoint over their airwaves. THe South Africans recognize that a broad and competitive economic base which provides opportunities for small business entrepreneurs is a key foundation for democracy,
One of our primary missions at OCBO is to ensure that small, minority and women-owned businesses are aware of the rulemaking process and opportunities to comment. I would urge those of you who aren't frequent commenters to get plugged into that process. Sometimes I hear from small business people that they don't have time to comment on regulations, that they are too busy with the day to day management of their firm. But those regulations set the rules for how the game will be played. Making sure your voices are heard in that rulemaking process lets the decisionmakers know of the concerns of small, minority and women-owned businesses, and gives us an opportunity to address those concerns.
OCBO also does outreach to let people know about the FCC's auctions and other opportunities. We have a mailing list of approximately 1750 people and are always happy to add more. At least once a month or so we send out information on FCC rulemakings which may be of particular interest to small businesses. If you give me your business card, we'd be glad to include you on the list. I'd also like to thank my dedicated staff, Karen Beverly, Dolly Johnson, and Lavenya Williams who are coming in this Saturday to work on the mailing (and have spent many Saturdays at the Commission) to make sure the public is informed about what's happening at the FCC.
In 1984, fewer than 100,000 consumers used cellular services. Today, that number exceeds 25 million. By the year 2000 it is estimated that there will be 54 million cellular subscribers, or 1 in 5 Americans.
From 1983 through 1994 cellular subscribership growth has averaged 50% a year. Double digit growth is expected through the end of the century.
In 1984, fewer than six million consumers used commercial wireless services. Today that number exceeds 57 million.
Last year, paging subscribership increased by approximately 38 percent. The number of customers using paging and other messaging services is estimated to be over 27 million.
Now I remember 1984 as the year I graduated from college. The Macintosh Computer had just been introduced. I didn't buy one for two reasons: first and foremost, I had no money. Second, there was almost no software available for the Mac. That's all changed now. It was also the time of the AT&T breakup. Upstart companies like MCI were just beginning to challenge MaBell. I had high phone bills for my calls home to my family in Los Angeles. Now we have a greater variety of choices. Back then, no one I knew had a cellular phone and only doctors carried pagers. Now my sister carries a cellular phone for safety purposes. A recent survey by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association showed that 40% of new cellular phone users are buying units for safety, 36% for business, 21% to call friends. Once again my sister is up on the trends.
When I moved to England for graduate school I experienced how monopoly limited communication. At the time, British Telecom was the only wireline carrier. As I soon found out, monopoly affected not only competition, but people's imagination about what communication could do. While a graduate student in 1984, I lived in a house that accommodated 24 people with only one telephone hooked up to the college's central switch board. The phone was turned off at 10:00 p.m. My mother was very ill with cancer and one of my friends was very concerned that my family wouldn't be able to reach me in an emergency. So he offered to pay the phone installation charge of 100 pounds, about $150 at that time. I mentioned to the assistant at our house that I was having a phone installed. She said, "But that's not a proper thing for a student to do. You must speak to the Warden first." The head of our college was called the Warden. This was a serious graduate school. I went to the Warden and explained why I wanted a telephone. He said, "Well my dear, you have a good reason for wanting a telephone. But I worry about the precedent this will set. If you get a telephone, then other students will want a telephone. Soon everyone will have a telephone and then what will happen?"
Competition and the wireless revolution tells us that what will happen is that people will stay in touch with each other more often, orders can be taken over the telephone, people can call for emergency roadside assistance without walking down a dark, lonely highway, and students can dial up information on the Internet that I would have never found in Oxford's antiquated library which did not even have a card catalogue (they had missed the Dewey decimal revolution). Perhaps some of you will further extend our imagination about what wireless technology can do.
At long last after several court-imposed stays which have delayed the auctions, we are about to begin the PCS Entrepreneurs block or C block auction. We applaud the FCC General Counsel's Office for their successful efforts to have the stays lifted. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Justice Stevens' decision last week to lift a stay of the C block auctions that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had imposed in a case concerning our rules which limit the amount of spectrum a cellular carrier can hold in its cellular market. Those rules are designed to foster competition and increase choices for the public. The excellent work of the FCC's Office of General Counsel in getting this stay lifted and the auction going again on December 11 is a tribute to the dedication of our public servants. This auction has truly been an agency-wide process involving the leadership of the FCC Commissioners, the Wireless Bureau, the Office of Plans and Policy, General Counsel's Office, the Office of Public Affairs and OCBO. It has also tested the persistence, determination and fortitude of the potential bidders, even before they got to the starting gate. We eagerly await the filing on Monday, November 6 of applications to compete for 493 PCS C block licenses.
In 1996 the FCC will hold auctions for several other services. These will include:
As many of you know, these auctions present opportunities not only for licensees but for those who serve licensees. The winners will need equipment, billing services, real estate and land use consulting, legal advice, accounting, human resources management, engineering and a host of other services. Copies of applications for licenses, lists of which applicants have made their upfront payments and the names of auction winners are available from the FCC. You can examine these lists and perhaps find potential customers for your services.
If you have any questions about the auctions or any other FCC matters, please feel free to call OCBO at (202) 418-0990 or e-mail us at KBeverly@FCC.gov. You can also call the FCC's Auctions Hotline at 418-1400. At OCBO, Karen Beverly, Dwayne Dowtin or myself will be happy to assist you. We work closely with all the FCC's Bureaus and Offices and the Commissioners and will endeavor to get you the information you need as quickly as possible.
Thanks so much for this opportunity to speak to you. Best of luck in your endeavors.