Rosenworcel Seen Still Undecided on Support for 5G FNPRM
With less than two weeks before the June 7 commissioners’ meeting, how the votes will shape up on the high-band Further NPRM (see 1805160051) remains unclear. The draft NPRM proposes to eliminate the pre-auction limit of 1250 MHz on the amount of millimeter-wave spectrum in the 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz bands that any party can buy at auction. FCC Democrats historically favored aggregation limits, usually opposed by Republicans. FCC Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel is still studying the draft and has reached no conclusions, industry and FCC officials said Friday. The item is one of 12 on one of the biggest agendas in a long time for an FCC open meeting.
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FCC officials told us they expect several meetings with industry on the NPRM between now and the release Thursday of the FCC Sunshine agenda. FCC officials said repeatedly they've had fewer meetings in general than before last year when Chairman Ajit Pai started to release draft orders three weeks before commissioner meetings.
Rosenworcel hasn’t shown her hand, but wireless lawyers said a partial dissent seems possible based on FCC history. The limits were easier to defend in areas where less spectrum was available, such as the 600 MHz frequencies sold in the TV incentive auction, the lawyers said. The FCC doesn't have a cap but takes an enhanced look at deals that put any carrier above the aggregation limits.
If any carrier's position is too dominant in any band it could harm competition, said Fred Campbell, former chief of the Wireless Bureau. “The debatable questions are how much aggregation is too much and what process should be used to prevent it,” Campbell said. “Pre-auction limits provide greater certainty but reduce providers’ flexibility to address market demands, while post-auction limits have the opposite effect. The commission’s decision to opt for greater flexibility in the high-frequency bands is appropriate given the unusually large amount of spectrum that will be available in those bands and the uncertainty about how much any particular provider will need and how it will ultimately be deployed.”
“There’s so much high-band spectrum available for both licensed or unlicensed use that it’s hard to conceive of a way to define a meaningful aggregation limit,” said network architect Richard Bennett. “Should it be a percentage of the total pool or a hard limit? Should it be unique in each of the sub-bands or calculated across the whole pool? Is it gated to use it or lose it mandates?” Regulators “create aggregation limits because they're concerned about hoarding, but that’s a very hard tactic in such a large resource pool,” Bennett said.
Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-telecom policy, said aggregation limits probably don’t make sense in high-frequency bands. “While there have been some murmurs about this issue, there is a good reason there isn’t nearly the same noise around holdings as there was with the incentive auction,” Brake said. “Up here there is plenty of bandwidth to go around, plus millimeter-wave comes with an infrastructure tradeoff no matter how much spectrum you acquire. It would be truly weird if one entity tried to scoop up all of it, so I think better not to introduce too many distortions to the auction, and only step in after-the-fact if a real problem develops.”
The Competitive Carriers Association worries about aggregation even in the high-frequency bands, said CCA President Steve Berry. “Spectrum screens can be an effective and appropriate tool for preventing harmful aggregation, and the commission must avoid repeating past mistakes of allowing the largest carriers a first-mover advantage based solely on spectrum acquisition,” he said. “CCA supports retaining the pre-auction spectrum limit for these bands, which will act as a strong initial step towards curbing anti-competitive spectrum aggregation. If the FCC declines to adopt a pro-competition proposal, it must ensure the agency performs case-by-case reviews of millimeter-wave acquisitions post-auction. The high bands offer big opportunities for “competitive carriers and new market entrants in deploying next-generation technologies, and all will benefit from a meaningful opportunity to access this valuable resource,” he said.
CTIA was at the FCC last week to lay out its hopes and concerns in meetings with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and technology staff. CTIA said the 26 GHz band should be allocated for licensed use. “Countries across the globe are exploring use of the 26 GHz band for terrestrial wireless services, making it a valuable swath of potentially harmonized spectrum,” CTIA said in a filing in docket 14-177. “Moreover, because the band is directly adjacent to the 28 GHz band and nearly adjacent to the 24 GHz band, the Commission could create a four-gigahertz nearly contiguous block of spectrum to support next-generation services.” CTIA also said the FCC should permit fixed and mobile use of the 42 GHz band and “discussed the proposed licensing framework for the 37-37.6 GHz band.”