*Pages 1--2 from  Microsoft Word - 56392.doc*
 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS,  CONCURRING 
 RE:  Amendment  of  Parts  1,  21,  73,  74  and  101  of  the  Commission’s  Rules  to  Facilitate  the  Provision  of  Fixed  and  Mobile  Broadband  Access,  Educational,  and 
 Other  Advanced  Services  in  the  2150-  2162  and  2500-  2690  MHz  Bands  (Third  Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  and  Second  Report  and  Order,  WT  Docket  No. 
 03-  66). 
 I  have  long  stated  my  belief  that  the  EBS  band  must  be  used,  above  all  else,  to  benefit  educators.  I  supported  our  2004  Order  reorganizing  the  EBS  and  BRS  bands 
 because  I  believed  –  as  did  the  great  majority  of  the  EBS  community  –  that  it  would  allow  educational  licensees  to  get  more  out  of  this  valuable  spectrum.  In  particular,  I 
 believed  –  and  I  continue  to  believe  –  that  access  to  capacity  on  low-  power,  cellularized  broadband  wireless  networks  would  be  a  great  boon  to  the  universities,  high  schools, 
 elementary  schools,  and  a  wide  array  of  non-  profit  educational  organizations  that  currently  hold  EBS  licensees.  I  accepted  the  argument  that  educational  licensees  needed 
 freedom  to  partner  with  industry  in  order  to  build  out  the  network  infrastructure  necessary  to  provide  wireless  broadband  access  using  this  spectrum. 


 Now  we  are  asked  by  industry,  as  well  as  a  portion  of  the  EBS  community,  to  go  farther  down  that  road.  It  is  no  longer  enough,  they  say,  for  educational  licensees  to  lease 
 up  to  95%  of  their  capacity  to  commercial  users  for  up  to  15  years.  Instead,  educational  licensees  seek  authority  to  lease  up  to  95%  of  their  capacity  for  up  to  30  years  and  with 
 only  a  limited  and  poorly-  defined  opportunity  to  revisit  the  terms  of  the  lease  at  15,  20,  and  25  years. 


 The  net  result  of  these  new  ground  rules,  we  are  told,  will  be  to  enhance  the  value  that  educators  draw  from  the  EBS  band.  I  certainly  hope  they  are  right.  I  have  no  doubt 
 that  the  educational  licensees  have  given  this  matter  careful  thought  and  are  genuinely  seeking  to  protect  the  interests  of  their  present  and  future  students  –  both  rural  and  urban, 
 young  and  old.  These  are  precisely  the  interests  that  led  to  the  creation  of  the  predecessor  to  the  EBS  program  over  four  decades  ago. 


 But  I  have  to  tell  you  that  I  worry  whether  we  may  be  going  too  far  today.  I  am  not  so  certain  that  it  is  really  wise  for  any  educational  institution  to  lock  up,  even  partially, 
 use  of  its  valuable  EBS  license  for  the  next  30  years.  In  making  our  judgment,  it  is  sobering  to  remember  that  30  years  ago  the  best  and  the  brightest  of  our  engineers 
 believed  that  the  optimal  use  of  this  spectrum  was  for  Multipoint  Distribution  Systems  meant  to  compete  with  cable  video  providers.  Satellite  broadcasting  was  not  even  on  the 
 radar  screen  –  let  alone  the  low-  power,  cellularized  wireless  broadband  access  technologies  that  we  seek  to  encourage  today. 


 For  my  part,  I  would  strongly  have  preferred  to  accept  the  suggestion  of  one  commenter  to  give  EBS  licensees  the  right  to  reclaim  up  to  5%  of  the  capacity  of  their 
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