Commenters Use Spectrum Partition NPRM to Call for 'Use-It or Share-It' Rules
New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge urged the FCC to make more use of use “use-it-or- share-it” rules to encourage carriers to make spectrum available on the secondary market. Industry groups instead backed rule liberalization to encourage more secondary market deals. Comments in docket 19-38 posted through Tuesday. In March, commissioners approved 5-0 an NPRM (see 1903150067) on how changes to spectrum partitioning, disaggregation and leasing rules “might further the agency’s goals of closing the digital divide and increasing spectrum access for small carriers and in rural areas.”
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“Use-it-or-share-it rules would make sure there are limits on the ability of licensees to warehouse spectrum or exclude potential rural ISPs able to make use of that spectrum to help bridge the digital divide,” OTI and PK commented. “A general authorization for opportunistic access on a use-it-or-share-it basis should be a central part of any effort aimed at expanding spectrum access for rural and non-traditional ISPs, as well as for enterprise and institutional use, in rural and underserved areas.”
The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said spectrum secondary markets haven’t reached their potential. They "largely failed -- whether due to high transaction costs, lack of incentives, or a combination of the two -- when it comes to providing spectrum to smaller competitive or rural carriers, let alone innovative industrial, enterprise or institutional users,” DSA said. It backed use-it or share-it rules.
Google agreed secondary markets haven't been a success. “Database systems and other modern spectrum management tools can be used to enable quick, low-cost, automated transactions, thereby reducing transaction costs and speeding the transfer of spectrum assets,” Google said. If other fixes don’t work, the FCC should impose “use-it or share-it rules, the company said. “Until such time as a licensee itself uses the spectrum, the Commission could require a licensee to make its fallow frequencies available on a secondary basis,” Google said: “Dynamic spectrum databases could be used to automate the process, enabling time- or geography-limited opportunistic use of spectrum pursuant to Commission rules.”
The Wireless ISP Association also sought tough mandates requiring providers to use the licenses they buy. Rules “have created a marketplace that enables spectrum warehousing by large providers, and which keeps unused spectrum -- often in less lucrative rural areas -- fallow due to the lack of effective incentives that could promote vibrant, secondary markets,” WISPA said. “This and the economics of rural coverage mean that large providers generally provide service in urban ‘holes,’ but leave the rural ‘donuts’ unserved.”
CTIA countered that secondary market rules mostly work, evidenced by the growing percentage of areas where subscribers have a choice of at least three LTE carriers. The group noted T-Mobile is deploying LTE using 600 MHz spectrum in rural areas “activating this spectrum in more than 1,254 cities and towns across the U.S. and laying the foundation for nationwide 5G.” The upcoming Mobility Fund II auction “will further encourage investment and deployment in rural areas, including through the use of secondary market transactions,” CTIA said.
CTIA suggested focusing on removing barriers to such transactions, “including by streamlining the approval processes for leases and transfers” and provide more incentives for providers to enter into secondary market transactions. The FCC should extend by a year “the final buildout requirements where a party engages in certain secondary market transactions and by permitting licensees to reaggregate their previously partitioned or disaggregated spectrum licenses,” the association said.
The Competitive Carriers Association mostly agreed with CTIA on the importance of flexibility for licenses sold in secondary market transactions. CCA called for “appropriate performance requirements that reflect the realities of deploying newly partitioned and disaggregated spectrum, particularly in rural America.” CCA usually supports “strong buildout requirements,” but “some flexibility to the requirements discussed in this proceeding will help to account for the unique circumstances associated with receiving partitioned or disaggregated licenses.”
The Rural Wireless Association said the NPRM proposals miss the mark. Extending buildout deadlines won’t mean more deployment in rural markets, the group said. If the FCC wants to see more spectrum fully utilized, it should “(1) re-institute a spectrum cap and not just maintain a soft spectrum screen; (2) auction commercial wireless licenses using geographic license sizes that correspond naturally to the frequency of the spectrum band (i.e., the higher the frequency, the smaller the license size); and (3) adopt build-out/performance requirements that are realistic and do not incent licensees to sit on spectrum for years,” RWA said.