University Business - February 2009 - (Page 25)

Wireless Windfall By viCki POWers Bandwidth leasing provides a win-win for universities and wireless companies. passé in their businesses as well,” says todd Gray, an attorney at dow Lohnes in Washington, d.C., who has helped negotiate nearly 250 eBs lease deals, 143 of those for colleges and universities. “interactive distance learning is really where things have moved, and real-time, one-way video is not that useful.” in addition to higher ed institutions not wanting or needing to utilize these channels for the transmission of traditional video services, ihes simply don’t have the capacity or wherewithal to construct their own high-speed data networks. an institution sitting on a license for four channels doesn’t have the resources to build a viable broadband network. hen President hamid shirvani stepped onto the California State University, Stanislaus, campus to begin his tenure more than three years ago, he realized the university was using only about 10 percent to 15 percent of the channels on its radio spectrum license. Leasing the excess capacity to a wireless provider could generate revenue, but he had no idea how valuable those channels could be. “We should not complain that we don’t get enough money from the state or from taxpayers—but focus on opportunities,” shirvani says. “it’s a wonderful occasion to be entrepreneurial to generate money and revenue from other sources. i focus more heavily on entrepreneurial aspects, much like a private college.” The limited availability of spectrums in the Central valley ultimately drove the price up during CsU stanislaus’ negotiations. although it took about two years to complete the deal, shirvani certainly believes it was worth the wait—the university will receive roughly $54 million over three decades from Clearwire. in addition, its it upgrade has enabled the university to offer more courses completely online, which is significant considering it serves a large geographical area covering six counties. “For a single parent, not having to drive two-and-a-half hours each way to school twice a week—that provides another 10 hours of time to them a week instead of driving,” shirvani points out. Why Universities Lease Bandwidth Back in the 1960s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started issuing broadcast licenses to school districts, colleges, and universities for educational programming under the instructional television Fixed service (itFs) program. Over time, this broadcast band proved to be underutilized, and the rules changed. in 2005, the FCC allowed companies to provide wireless internet service on the educational Broadband service (eBs) spectrum. This change sparked a renewed interest in leases and bandwidth. “educators went along with the idea because they thought the transmission of one-way traditional video service was becoming universitybusiness.com W Technicians at UC Santa Barbara removed some of the transmitting equipment to prove to the FCC the spectrum was no longer being used. February 2009 | 25 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - February 2009

University Business - February 2009
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Sense of Place
Independent Outlook
Wireless Windfall
Share and Share Alike
Achieving the Turnaround
Internet Technology
What's New
End Note

University Business - February 2009