O'Rielly Says FCC Must Get Satellite Companies On Board for Successful C-Band Auction
FCC commissioners will vote on a C-band item at their Feb. 28 meeting, Chairman Ajit Pai confirmed Thursday. Pai said he will circulate an order next week (see 2001300035). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the FCC needs to work with industry and raised concerns about forcing a solution. Other commissioners said they're waiting to see the details. Meanwhile, the FCC said Thursday the clock phase of the FCC’s third high-band auction had just ended.
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Reports emerged this week that the FCC may limit incentive payments for exiting the band to $5 billion for all operators and was considering sunsetting the licenses if the operators won’t work with the regulator (see 2001290049 and 2001280063).
“I’m looking for something that provides more comfort to the satellite providers so they are willing to participate,” O’Rielly said. “I will look not kindly on something that attempts to shove this mechanism down their throats. I will have a problem with that.” O’Rielly said he has worked for years with C-band incumbents to get them to be willing to participate in an auction and to increase the amount of spectrum that will be made available for 5G.
“To say that we’re going to take away their licenses, and they can sue if they want to, that’s not productive,” O’Rielly said. It would also create a “really problematic” precedent, he said. The services the C-band incumbents provide are “beneficial to the American people and the contracts that they have with contractees are important. They serve a number of regulated entities that we oversee.” If sunsetting licenses is “just a threat that we’re going to take away your licenses in five years, that’s problematic,” O’Rielly said: “It will devalue every auction, every license.”
“I’m really heartened by what we’ve seen over the past few weeks,” including “significant movement” and emerging consensus in Congress over the need for acceleration payments to satellite operators, said Commissioner Brendan Carr. “The time for being reasonable is now,” he said, urging satellite providers to “maintain reasonable expectations” about payments.
“The clearest and cleanest path forward is through legislation,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “We’ve seen new legislation that’s bipartisan as recently as yesterday.” The FCC doesn’t have clear authority for approving incentive payments and Congress needs to address how the money is spent, she said.
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted he was the first commissioner to back a public auction. “There is some legal risk there” absent legislation, he said. Both he and Rosenthal said they look forward to seeing Pai’s proposal next week. “We too are waiting with bated breath to see what the chairman is going to propose,” Rosenworcel said.
“We will be considering an item at the February meeting to move forward on the C band,” Pai said. You’ll “see the details when we circulate the item next week.” Asked repeatedly about details, Pai declined to say more.
The FCC said the clock phase of the auction of 37, 39 and 47 GHz frequencies ended after round 104 (see 2001300026). The FCC had $7.56 billion in gross proceeds, but prices per MHz/POP for the 37 and 39 GHz bands were lower than the previous auctions, and much lower for the 47 GHz band (see 2001240042).
Lightshed’s Walter Piecyk noted the spectrum is even higher on the band than the 28 GHz Verizon is using for 5G. “Higher spectrum means even shorter distances as mmWave spectrum is already marred by limited coverage capabilities,” Piecyk told investors: “Meanwhile, it’s been nearly 5 years since the FCC’s last auction of mid-band spectrum. Yet, C-Band and Ligado spectrum, which could be critical sources of mid-band spectrum for 5G, remain in limbo at the FCC.”
Clock bidding ended “on a successful note,” emailed Wiley’s Ari Meltzer. “Bidders committed almost $7.6 billion to purchase millimeter wave spectrum that will enable them to provide 5G broadband services to the American public with capacity levels far beyond what can be provided in existing spectrum bands.”
The FCC is looking “across spectrum bands, from low- to mid-[band]” for 5G, Carr said. “We’re full steam ahead and the progress that we’re seeing to free that spectrum up for the private sector is impressive.”
O’Rielly noted the auction isn’t over, just the clock phase, with the assignment phase to follow. “I’m excited that we’re getting licenses out to the marketplace,” O’Rielly said. “That’s the purpose of a spectrum auction,” he said: “It’s the most efficient mechanism that we’ve come up with to get licenses out into the marketplace.”