Commerce Chief Meets to Reassure Wireless Firms

U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans on Thursday met with commercial wireless companies Sprint PCS and Motorola, among others, to reassure them he was working to make more airwaves available for advanced mobile services.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department 's National Telecommunications and Information Agency are due to issue reports Friday on shifting spectrum from government use to commercial service and sharing airwaves.

The reports are expected to outline the difficulties in reallocating the spectrum from military use any time soon or co-mingling the space with commercial operators.

``It was a very effective move on his part to make sure industry knew he would be working with us as well as the Defense Department to hopefully finding a resolution,'' said Richard Barth, director of telecommunications strategy and regulation at Motorola.

Last fall, then President Bush ordered government agencies to work together with the private sector to hasten the adoption of so-called third generation (3G) technology amid concerns that U.S. high-tech companies were falling behind overseas rivals.

The hope is 3G technology will eventually allow wireless providers to offer consumers high-speed Internet access on their mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs).

``With his hands-on approach, I'm sure it will be possible to find pragmatic solutions to our spectrum needs,'' Tom Wheeler, president and chief executive of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, said in a statement.

The FCC, in coordination with the Clinton administration, last fall developed a timeframe to auction off the spectrum for 3G services by Sept. 30, 2002.

Yet, finding available airwaves has been difficult and some of the prime spectrum is used by the federal government including the Defense Department for national security operations and would have to move to other airwaves first.

``We have no interest in harming the nation's defense interests,'' Barth said, noting that the government already uses commercially available equipment and commercial airwaves but adds encryption devices to ensure security.

A spokeswoman for NTIA declined to comment ahead of the report's release.