STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re:  Service Rules for Advanced Wireless Services in the 2155-2175 MHz Band, 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Today’s NPRM seeks comment on a variety of options for how the Commission can license the 
AWS-3 spectrum band to best serve the public interest.  These options include:  (1) opening this spectrum 
to unlicensed use, as has proved so productive in other bands; (2) designating it for an open access model 
that would combine wholesale broadband access and a Carterfone mandate; (3) using it to provide free, 
advertiser-supported broadband service (as initially proposed by M2Z and then by NetfreeUS) as well as 
a fee-based premium broadband service; or (4) allocating it through a traditional, largely unconditioned 
auction.  
I believe a general rulemaking—in which interested parties from industry and the public interest 
community, as well as members of the public, are free to comment—is plainly the right way for the 
Commission to decide among these various models.  I am especially pleased that my colleagues have 
agreed to commit to issuing service rules for the AWS-3 band within 9 months from the date this item is 
published in the Federal Register.  The one outcome that would plainly not serve the public interest is for 
this spectrum to remain unavailable for advanced wireless services.