PDV Hopeful FCC Under Pai Will Agree to Reshape 900 MHz Band
PDVWireless executives said Wednesday they're hopeful the FCC, under Chairman Ajit Pai, will act on their long-stalled request for a private enterprise broadband allocation in the 900 MHz band. PDV and the Enterprise Wireless Alliance asked the FCC to launch…
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an NPRM on the plan in 2014. In 2015, the FCC sought comment on the petition and several critical infrastructure industry commenters raised concerns (see 1506300047). On Aug. 4, the agency released a notice of inquiry seeking comment on ways to increase access to spectrum and improve flexibility and efficiency of the 900 MHz band (see 1708070043). PDV is the largest incumbent in the 900 MHz band. Other proposals to convert spectrum to wireless broadband have stalled at the FCC, but the agency has a new focus under Pai, said PDV Vice Chairman Morgan O’Brien in an interview. The current commission is “very much attuned to moving things along rapidly and assisting in the introduction of new technology,” he said. In the years since the petition was filed, “there is much greater appreciation in industry of what the benefits of broadband are and the economics of broadband,” he said. “The FCC always is attuned to where is the technology going … and it’s going broadband.” PDV is preparing comments to file on the NOI, and beefing up staff, O’Brien said. Originally, the 900 MHz spectrum was part of Nextel’s spectrum portfolio, then sold to PDV in 2014, he said. O’Brien was the founder of Nextel, which later combined with Sprint. Nextel bought the spectrum over a 15-year period, he said: “It’s really sort of the afterlife of auctioned spectrum in a new technology environment.” The FCC didn't comment. PDV is proposing that the 10 MHz channel it owns be reallocated into a 3x3 MHz and 2x2 MHz channel, CEO John Pescatore said. Other incumbents can be re-tuned to avoid interference, he said. “We can literally use the same systems that are out there and retune those radios.” PDV said Wednesday it hired utility industry veteran Kevin Malloy (see 1708150022).