Cellular as the New PSTNCellular as the New PSTN

The FCC should recognize what users have already decided: Universal service means wireless.

In his feature on cellular carriers, Dave Michels points out that regulators including the FCC are starting to ask more, and farther-ranging, questions about wireless services and devices. That's a good thing and it points toward a future in which the default network isn't the local loop, as we used to call the wireline infrastructure, but instead is the cellular network.It makes sense that the wireless network should be the network of last resort for those who can't afford other connectivity, as well as the default network for carrying mission-critical traffic. As Dave points out, wireless connectivity is enabling not just devices that we think of as primarily communications devices--i.e., smartphones--but also devices in which connectivity is assumed--Dave mentions e-books, and I'd add automobiles, cameras, printers, etc. Not to mention tablet computers, as if anybody this week has been in a mood not to mention those. Note that, if the iPad has, in fact, any capacity for wireline connectivity, i.e., an RJ-45 Ethernet port, nobody even bothered to make mention of it in discussing the device.

In other words, the health of our cellular networks is critical to commerce, public safety, and probably even national security. Regulators should treat them accordingly.

At the same time, cellular is the right network for providing Universal Service. It's got to be cheaper to give a cell phone and prepaid cards to those who can't afford service, than it is to provision a landline for them--and it's far more portable and something that we can provide even for people who don't have permanent residences.

Cellular networks lack lifeline power, and hence could be vulnerable during power outages--as we've seen during large-scale blackouts in the past. Even if the cellular systems themselves stay up via backup power, call volumes tend to overwhelm the network's capacity.

The FCC should revisit Universal Service in such a way that the fee structures not only fund cell phones for those who can't afford them, but also provide some subsidy to cellular carriers to harden their networks and provide emergency capacity. The thought of the government subsidizing cellular carriers isn't particularly appealing, but let's face it, it'll never get done otherwise.

With the FCC beginning to confront the future of the wireline PSTN, the question needs to be raised as to whether it's more appropriate to look to broadband wireline, or to cellular as the network of last resort.The FCC should recognize what users have already decided: Universal service means wireless.