With Applicants High, CBRS Auction Unlikely to Be Delayed Again
All signs are the citizens broadband radio service auction will start July 23 as planned, especially with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai concerned about a December C-band auction, industry and FCC officials said in recent interviews. The auction of priority access licenses was delayed once from June 25, because of COVID-19 concerns (see 2003250052). The agency announced Monday that 348 companies or individuals filed short forms to participate; 106 were deemed complete while others require additional work.
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“At this point I am unaware of any entity seeking to delay the July PAL auction schedule, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, I would not favor further delay,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told us Monday: “Let’s get on with the auction and allow eventual winners to bring about innovative services.” O’Rielly had said his biggest concern was COVID-19-related credit market jitters (see Notebook section at end of 2005130057).
The U.S.’ four largest carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular, filed to participate in the auction, as did smaller carriers, cable operators, wireless ISPs, schools, oil companies and utilities. Most are seeking rural service provider or small business bidding credits (see here and here). Wireless industry officials noted T-Mobile and Verizon were among those with incomplete applications. That's common, and many in the incomplete category will be deemed complete by the time the auction starts.
The deadline has passed for filing short-form applications and the due date for upfront payments is less than two weeks away, said Mark Gibson, director of business development at CommScope's Comsearch business, one of the approved spectrum access system administrators. The recent postponement “was to give potential participants additional time to prepare given COVID,” he said: “We think the current sentiment is, ‘Let’s get on with this.’”
For many reasons, Pai “wants to make sure the C-band auction starts in December and that requires that CBRS start, roughly, as currently scheduled,” said New Street’s Blair Levin. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “has done a great job making sure the credit markets will not interfere,” Levin said. “While there are some economic jitters, and auctions in other countries are being postponed, I think here we are full speed ahead.”
“At this point the CBRS auction is fully locked in,” emailed MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett: “The credit markets make the go/no go decision a no-brainer. The cable operators are likely to be the market makers in this auction, and they’re weathering the COVID storm relatively well.”
The auction will “draw broad interest based on the varied use cases it enables,” said LightShed’s Walter Piecyk. “Extending broadband footprints and indoor capacity for mobile operators are the easy lifts, but we think many have underestimated the benefits this mid-band spectrum can deliver to an outdoor macro network.”
The FCC delayed the auction “so that they could buy time to protect employees from COVID-19 exposure and presumably, like most workplaces, they’ve found ways to do that,” said Brent Skorup, Meractus Center senior research fellow. “Getting new mid-band spectrum into the marketplace is a priority for the agency,” he said: “Assuming they’ve identified safety measures … they’ll be eager to begin the auction next month.”
The CBRS Alliance doesn’t expect another delay, per a spokesperson. “The FCC needs to complete the PAL auction and move onto the C-band auction in December,” said Kyung Mun, principal analyst at Mobile Experts.
“Ajit is not slowing down on anything,” said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak. “He knows he’s got X amount of time left in his agenda. It’s a hallmark of his chairmanship that a rolling stone gathers no moss.” Regardless of what happens on CBRS, the C-band auction appears on for December, said Jennifer Huddleston, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy.