Kennedy Eyeing Nov. 20 C-Band Hearing; CBA Rejects House Testimony
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told us Thursday he now expects a planned second hearing on his concerns about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to happen Nov. 20. Kennedy grilled FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in October on whether he favors a private auction similar to what the C-Band Alliance proposes (see 1910170038). Pai's expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052). The C-Band Alliance countered what it believes are other stakeholders' “misstatements” about its private auction proposal, writing House Communications Subcommittee leaders.
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Kennedy said the FCC spectrum auction officials he wants to testify are “going to be traveling” next week, when he had originally aimed to hold the hearing (see 1911050049). “I want to get the actual people who have worked on the 100-plus auctions” rather than get additional testimony from FCC members, Kennedy said. He met last week with FCC auction staff and spoke with President Donald Trump about his concerns (see 1911010052). Kennedy has been working to retain Senate Appropriations Committee-backed pro-public auction language (see 1909190079) in the chamber's version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC budget bill (S-2524) despite opposition from Senate Commerce Committee GOP leaders.
Kennedy said he also spoke with Trump “very briefly” Wednesday about the C-band issue when they appeared together at a campaign rally in Monroe, Louisiana, that was partly aimed at bolstering GOP gubernatorial candidate Eddie Rispone. “I'm not going to speak” about what Trump's opinion might be, but “I've made my feelings known” and the administration's now “very well aware of the substantial advantages of a public auction over” a private one, Kennedy said. He noted a “very, very senior member” of Trump's staff also “visited with me at length in my office” since last week. “We had a very productive conversation” on the C band, Kennedy said.
CBA's proposal continues “to be misrepresented in certain quarters, including in the testimony of some witnesses” at House Communications' late October hearing (see 1910290037), Executive Vice President-Advocacy and Government Relations Peter Pitsch wrote Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. Those “inaccurate” claims include that a private auction would likely exclude small and rural broadband providers and that the FCC would need additional time to develop rules for the CBA proposal. “CBA has reached an agreement with rural and nationwide wireless carriers” on auction principles, including that it would be open to all qualified bidders and that the bidding process would comply with FCC rules, Pitsch said. “Nothing about the proposed auction would change the process under which the FCC issues licenses for terrestrial mobile operation. The FCC possesses robust oversight authority over all licensing decisions and must conduct full review and approve any potential spectrum assignments under a CBA-led auction.”
Pitsch emphasized that CBA agreed to return “a portion of auction proceeds, in excess of those needed to cover the costs for the auction and the transition of the spectrum.” An “FCC-run auction and transition are likely to result in lengthy delays,” while “the speed provided by a market-based approach produces gains to consumers, workers and American businesses,” Pitsch said. He cited findings by economist Coleman Bazelon, Brattle Group principal, “that one year of delay in clearing the C-band could reduce the total societal value of repurposing the spectrum by between 7 percent and 11 percent and every $1 billion in delay costs would create total social costs of up to $20 billion.”
CBA and others “raised concerns that the FCC lacks the authority to confiscate C-band spectrum without compensating the satellite operators that currently use the spectrum to deliver valuable services throughout the United States,” Pitsch said. “Given this legal uncertainty, an FCC auction -- which likely could not even be scheduled until mid-2021, at the earliest -- is bound to be delayed by protracted litigation, slowing the transition of critical C-band spectrum for 5G operations.”