Verizon CEO 'baffling' on wireless web, FCC says

Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg was "rather baffling" when he questioned U.S. plans to devote more airwaves to wireless Web service, a federal official said today.

The Federal Communications Commission, in its plan for high-speed Internet service, or broadband, said television broadcasters should relinquish airwaves for use by wireless Web providers.

"I don't think the FCC should tinker with this," Seidenberg said April 6 at Council on Foreign Relations forum in New York. "I think the market's going to settle this. So in the long term, if we can't show that we have applications and services to utilize that spectrum better than the broadcasters, then the broadcasters will keep the spectrum."

Verizon's Midwest headquarters is based in Schaumburg.

FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus in a blog posting today said giving wireless services more capacity was "a key recommendation" built on comments from companies including Verizon.

"That's why the recent statements by Verizon's CEO are rather baffling," Lazarus said. "Verizon played a major role in building an overwhelming record in support of more mobile broadband spectrum, consistently expressing its official view that the country faces a looming spectrum crisis."

TV broadcasters oppose the FCC's airwaves plan, devised in part to help wireless carriers including Verizon Wireless cope with a surge in traffic from bandwidth-guzzling devices like the iPhone.

"There is a long-term need for additional spectrum for mobile broadband services," Verizon spokesman David Fish said in an e-mailed statement. "We support greater reliance on the free market to ensure that unused spectrum can be purchased by those who would use it, and all spectrum is put to its highest and best use."