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Lecture 16, broadband spectrum and network neutrality

This is the second and third part of broadband spectrum and network neutrality lecture, which mostly conveys wireless and spectrum policy.

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Ship to Ship communication first took advantage of radio, where it is not possible to build up physical lines.
“Pollution” of the airwaves: the available channels are scarce due to the interference: similar to the “tragic of commons”.

1927 Radio Act and 1934 Communications Act: first ensured licenses to airwaves, and the ‘public trustee’ model, the second regulated broadcast to newly-formed Federal Communications Commissioner Title III authority (managing the airwaves), in response to the problem of scarcity.

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2 Unique characteristics of broadcast:

• technological scarcity and interference due to the limited usable spectrum.
• uniquely pervasive, (FCC v. Pacifica 1978, George Carlin’s “seven dirty words”) that restricts the speech.
  Radios can not be “unheard” by the audience.

Regulatory response: Structural rules and licensing system and the “trustee model”. If the station is failing to meet up these requirements the licenses can not be renewed.

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Physics of Spectrum and Wireless

Not all spectrum is created equal, but with their own properties like high permeable/penetrate dense objects like building.

Types: Amplitude modulation (AM radio, distortion on Amplitude to transmit information compared to the base amplitude ) and Frequency modulation (FM).

Phone calling: the only wireless part is between the device and the signaling tower.

Cellular telephony + data
Origins in AT&T in the 1940s but delayed for interference and doubts about market.

Cellular initially inherits common carrier requirements:

• reasonable and non-discriminatory roaming:
  Even I am not a customer of AT&T for eg, their tower should still finish my call.
• interoperability (the ability to exchange and make use of information) through support for emerging and legacy standards.
• number portability
• FCC oversight of technical interference on all wireless devices

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Histories of regulation

The allocation and assignment of spectrum:

• 1920s-1980s: licensing through comparative hearings (public trustee)
• 1980s: lotteries
• 1990s: auctions
• recent turn to ‘reverse price auctions’ aka (incentive auctions)

Side knowledge:
Nobody owns their spectrum.
Property rights or common models of spectrum?
Effectiveness is based both on signal strength and receiver quality.

Spectrum reform

Spectrum crunch!, there is not enough spectrum:

• reclaiming / reassigning spectrum (eg. digital TV transition and the 700 MHz auctions)
• Federal givebacks of government spectrum (Obama)

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Network Neutrality

Computer Inquiries in 1970s-1980s: FCC rulings of regulations regarding common carriers and emergent data processing industry. FCC tries to find balance between common carriers instead of creating monopoly within the industry.
Notice the distinction between basic ("telecommunication") and enhanced ("information") service:
Basic

• Governed by common carriage (non-discrimination, and no rights of refusal)
• primarily at physical, raw transmission layer

Enhanced

• higher value added, data manipulation layer
  • Eg. Westlaw, AOL, independent ISPs
• Not governed by common carriage

The Goal is to…
prevent domination or monopoly of physical layer. So should your telecommunications provider be allowed to discriminate (blocking, throttling/slowing down, or offer preferential treatment[eg. Google pays carriers for faster access]) on basis of source (where the data comes from), traffic type, or content?

*Reasonable network management and usage-sensitive pricing (speed tiers) is exempt from network neutrality!