Wireless Industry Wants Aggressive Timetable for High-Band Auctions
Carriers and their associations urged the FCC to move forward on scheduling auctions for high-band spectrum beyond 28 and 24 GHz. The comments came on a public notice on rules for the auctions, scheduled to get underway in November, starting with 28 GHz. “By bringing millimeter wave bands to market this year, the Commission will help facilitate the development and deployment of 5G technologies and services across the country to the benefit of the nation’s economy, businesses, and consumers,” CTIA said. The FCC needs a schedule for making more bands available, but it warned against extending anti-collusion rules across both auctions.
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“Given the ambiguity of the Commission’s anti-collusion rules, longer application of the rules could have a chilling effect on the wireless industry’s ability to conduct non-auction related business negotiations, as providers traditionally have shied away from any such discussions to avoid the appearance of impropriety,” CTIA filed in docket 18-85. The Competitive Carriers Association said the FCC should schedule auctions for all available millimeter-wave bands as quickly as possible. After the 28 GHz auction, the FCC should “auction all remaining and available mmW bands together including the 24 GHz, 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands,” CCA said. “Development and testing of equipment in the 39 GHz band is approximately equal to development and testing in the 28 GHz and 37 GHz bands. Delaying auction of this spectrum will delay service deployment and create disparity with respect to the 28 GHz band; effectively giving dominant carriers a head start in 5G deployment.” CCA also raised concerns about the anti-collusion rules.
AT&T said the FCC should roll the 37.6-40.0 GHz band and 47 GHz band into the 24 GHz auction “even if that may result in some marginal delay." The company "has submitted an auction design to the Commission outlining a method for auctioning the entire 37.6-40 GHz band in a way that provides equitable access to both incumbents and new entrants,” it noted. “This same design is easily extended to other bands, including 24 GHz and 47 GHz.” Conducting the auctions together would be in the public interest, the carrier said. “There is a much greater degree of substitutability between 24 GHz and 37.6-40.0 GHz spectrum, and a simultaneous auction of those bands would permit bidders to express demand for the bands as true alternatives."
T-Mobile seeks access to additional bands to be put out for bids with 24 GHz. “While no two spectrum allocations are identical, the 24 GHz, 37 GHz, and 47 GHz bands are largely greenfield, significant opportunities exist in the 39 GHz band, and -- for now at least -- licensees can use these bands nearly interchangeably to deliver wireless broadband services across the United States,” the carrier said. “Because the 24 GHz and 47 GHz bands fall behind the 39 GHz and 37 GHz bands in terms of technology development, auctioning these bands prior to the 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands is not the fastest road to 5G deployment and may risk creating delays as resources must be shifted from the more advanced 39 GHz band.”