McConnell Dispels Wireless Broadband Misconceptions

Weekly ETV show features Senators on Wireless Broadband Study Committee

Columbia, SC - Today, Senator Glenn McConnell (R-Charleston), President Pro Tempore, helped to allay some of the misconceptions surrounding wireless broadband on his weekly ETV show, This Week in the Senate. Guests Senator Luke Rankin (R-Horry) and Senator Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg), who both served on the Wireless Broadband Study Committee, provided much needed clarity to the current status of wireless broadband in the state.

Part of the larger broadband discussion includes a joint resolution (H.4735) currently being considered in the Senate establishing the South Carolina Educational Broadband Service Commission. The commission will accept and review all proposals from private entities desiring to lease the excess spectrum that will become available on ETV’s statewide network after a federally mandated restructuring of the spectrum takes place next year.

By January 19, 2009, a private entity (or proponent) interested in assuming responsibility for transitioning the spectrum must notify the FCC that it intends to transition all of the licensees in the ETV service area.

If no private entity (proponent) comes forward by the deadline, ETV will have 90-days to notify the FCC that it will maintain the responsibility and manage the restructuring of the spectrum.

“We do not want to give a wink and a nod to a sweetheart deal that benefits a private entity and potentially leave millions of dollars of the state taxpayers money on the table by engaging in a long term lease agreement with no ability to comeback and look at the value of the spectrum,” says Senator Rankin. “We must perform our due diligence on this issue and the Broadband Commission will allow us to do just that.”

Legislators have found it difficult to gain the information needed to properly assess the value of the excess spectrum that will be available after the restructuring. The estimated market value of the spectrum ranges from $70 million to over $137 million. The Broadband Service Commission will be an essential element in the final evaluation of the spectrum’s value and its ultimate value to the citizens of South Carolina.

The part of the spectrum involved in the wireless broadband debate is not the portion of the spectrum used by ETV for public broadcast (700 MHz), it is the portion (2.5 GHz) ETV utilizes to provide its closed-circuit educational programming to schools and other organizations.

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