FCC sets rules for some in-flight radio auctions

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday took one step closer to introducing competition in the air-to-ground radio band now used for the seatback phones seen on most airplanes.

The agency set rules for a planned auction that should result in at least two service providers competing in the 800MHz band. Services could include voice, data services and broadband Internet access, the FCC has said.

The spectrum at stake, a band 4MHz wide, today is licensed exclusively by Verizon Communications Inc. for its Airfone service, which uses narrowband phones installed in seatbacks. That service has not lived up to expectations because it is expensive, limited to voice and not often used, Commissioner Michael Copps said in a statement last December when the FCC decided to auction off the spectrum. At that time, the agency granted Verizon a five-year, non-renewable extension of its license but ordered the carrier to eventually fit the Airfone service into just 1MHz of the band.

The FCC will use its Part 1 competitive bidding rules, a standard set of rules for radio spectrum auctions, the agency announced Friday. Also Friday, the FCC announced it had resolved some outstanding issues raised by potential competitors and other users of the spectrum. An FCC spokeswoman would not estimate a date for the auctions.

The transition to competition in the band could be a long one. The spectrum will be divided in one of three different ways, but any new entrants will have to wait for Verizon to free up bandwidth by making Airfone run on less spectrum, the FCC spokeswoman said. Verizon could also bid in the new auction. Depending on the outcome of the auction, Verizon might be the only service provider until May 2010, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said in a statement Friday.

Friday's decision is not related to cell phone service on commercial airliners, which the FCC also is studying. Broadband Internet access could also be provided via a satellite uplink, though the cost of satellite broadband has limited the availability of such offerings, Adelstein said.

Also Friday, the agency said it will use the Part 1 rules to auction frequencies in the 400MHz band for communications services on corporate jets and private, small-engine airplanes. It did not estimate a date for that auction.