Industry Could Be Looking at 10 Years to Clear Parts of AWS-3 Band
NTIA published transition plans for various federal agencies to clear much of the 1695-1710 and 1755-1780 MHz bands as part of the FCC AWS-3 auction, slated to get underway Nov. 13. The total costs to all agencies is $527.1 million for the 1695-1710 MHz band, $4.576 billion for the 1755-1780 MHz band, NTIA said Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1zJpEea). Transition times to clear the spectrum could run as long as 10 years in some cases, documents say.
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While some information was redacted from documents made public Wednesday, the plans offer timelines outlining when agencies will discontinue use of the bands or be ready to share them with nonfederal users. They also offer estimates on the cost of relocating or sharing in these bands. The documents offer the first public disclosure of the transition plans, industry officials said. The auction will offer both 1695-1710 MHz spectrum, licensed in an unpaired configuration for low-power uplink operations, and 1755-1780 MHz band, which will be paired with the 2155-2180 MHz band.
For the 1755-1780 MHz spectrum, the longest projected timeline for clearing the spectrum was offered by the Air Force, which projected a cost of $348.4 million and as long as 10 years from the day the auction closes to clear Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry (AMT) operations from the band (http://1.usa.gov/1r4wZRG). The highest costs were projected for clearing video operations from the band, at $1.6 billion, more than a third of total transition costs.
The Department of Justice projected a total cost of more than $1 billion just to clear its video operations from the band, with a timeline of 42 months. The Department of Homeland Security projected costs of $459.6 million to clear its video operations. The second biggest cumulative costs are projected to be clearing Unmanned Aerial Systems from the band ($809.9 million) followed by AMT ($484.8 million).
Projected timelines and costs are much lower for clearing satellite operations and upper-air sensors used in weather forecasting from the 1695-1710 MHz band (http://1.usa.gov/1rrulEA). The Department of Commerce reported the highest single cost -- $179.5 million -- for clearing ground receive sites for meteorological satellites. The receive sites make up $443.2 million of the overall costs. Average transition times were projected to be 39 months.
"While we are reviewing the details of the transition plan, we appreciate NTIA’s effort to keep the AWS-3 process moving forward,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker. “As both independent reports and our own survey demonstrate, consumer demand for wireless broadband is skyrocketing; repurposing of federal spectrum bands is key to enabling commercial providers to meet this demand and keep America at the forefront of the wireless revolution. This is an important step toward a successful auction this fall and good progress that we applaud."
Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said the announcement was a step forward. “We must find ways to free up as much spectrum as possible and to maximize the use of this limited resource,” he said. Wireless offers benefits for the economy, consumers and public safety, he added. “We must continue to work collaboratively with federal users to ensure the President’s goal of finding 500 MHz of additional spectrum is achieved.”