Office of Advocacy
December 7, 2006
Via Electronic Filing|
Marlene H. Dortch
Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., S.W.
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Ms. Dortch:
On December 7, 2006, on behalf of the U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA) Office of Advocacy, Charles Maresca, Director of Interagency Affairs;
Eric Menge, Assistant Chief Counsel; and Bruce Lundegren, Assistant Chief
Counsel met with the following officials of the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC): Paul D’Ari, Deputy Chief for Spectrum Policy of the
Spectrum & Competition Policy Division of the Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau and Gary Michaels and Erik Salovaaral of the Auctions and Spectrum
Access Division of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Advocacy
discussed the FCC’s initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA) for its
recent proposed rulemaking in the proceeding listed above. This letter
summarizes the points Advocacy stated at the meeting.
The FCC has made a significant effort to comply with the RFA in this
rulemaking, and Advocacy commends that effort. The IRFA identifies projected
compliance requirements and analyzes the impact on small business. The FCC
discusses many alternatives available to the agency for the service rules in
the 700 MHz Band, including licensing in smaller service areas.
Advocacy believes the FCC should review the size of license areas
contemplated by the proposed rule. At Advocacy’s roundtable on August 3,
2006 which discussed the FCC’s spectrum policies, participating small
businesses identified the size of the license areas as the single greatest
regulatory barrier to providing wireless services. In addition to
encouraging small business participation, small license areas give more
flexibility for tailoring wireless coverage, encourage more rapid build-out
of licenses, encourage build-out in rural areas, and often receive higher
bids “per pop” in the license area. For these reasons, the FCC should
allocate a substantial portion of the 700 MHz spectrum using small licensing
areas.
Several commenters have presented endorsed licensing plans which would
allocate more spectrum in smaller license areas while allocating other
portions of the 700 MHz in large regional licenses. This combination
approach was used with significant success in the FCC’s Advanced Wireless
Services auction (Auction #66). The FCC should analyze the combination
approach for allocating the 700 MHz Band, as well as other licensing plans,
in its final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) to see if they minimize
regulatory impacts on small businesses.
Please contact Charles Maresca at (202) 205-6949 or charles.maresca@sba.gov
if you have any questions regarding this filing.
Sincerely,
/s/ ___________________
Thomas M. Sullivan
Chief Counsel of Advocacy
/s/ ___________________
Eric E. Menge
Assistant Chief Counsel for Telecommunications
Office of Advocacy
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 Third St., S.W.
Washington, DC 20416
cc:
FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin
FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate
FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps
FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein
FCC Commissioner Robert M. McDowell
Steven D. Aitken, Acting Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs