Marking Repacking's End, Pai Promises Aid to Move Stations to Permanent Facilities
The broadcast incentive auction and repacking are among the biggest challenges the FCC undertook, and could inspire “the next seemingly crazy idea for spectrum reallocation, scribbled on the proverbial cocktail napkin,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in remarks at an American Consumer Institute Center webinar on the repack’s official end Monday (see 2007100035). "We have accomplished our objective,” said Pai. “All of the valuable low-band airwaves sold in the ground-breaking broadcast incentive auction are now available for wireless broadband service.” He praised staff, carriers, tower crews and broadcasters for making the complicated process successful.
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Due to the incentive auction, 987 full-power and Class A TV stations were assigned to new channels, and Pai said 99% successfully transitioned. The remaining stations, scheduled to move by early September, are on portions of the 600 MHz band allocated to broadcast TV and the duplex gap. “None have delayed or will delay the deployment of wireless services in the new 600 MHz wireless band,” Pai said. “The broader deployment of this spectrum will further help close the digital divide in rural America, ease congestion on wireless networks, promote the widespread availability of 5G,” said an agency release.
“A cleared 600 MHz band does not render our task complete,” Pai said, noting up to 15% of repacked stations are using interim equipment, which generally reduces their signal. “The FCC will do whatever we can to help” get those stations on permanent facilities, he said. Despite the end of the repack’s 39-month timeline, “the job’s not done” until “disenfranchised” broadcasters are on permanent equipment, said NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan.
Kaplan praised T-Mobile’s aggressive efforts to use the spectrum it bought in the auction but said not every carrier shared that drive. In future spectrum grabs, officials should focus on how existing frequency license holders are using what they have, Kaplan said. A great deal of cleared spectrum isn’t being used, he said. T-Mobile is “the poster child” for how to make use of spectrum, he said. The auction and deployment required the carrier to move much faster than usual, said T-Mobile Vice President-Government Affairs, Technology and Engineering Policy Steve Sharkey. The company partnered with broadcasters and tower crews to speed the process, he said.
“We produced what we promised,” said Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo. She emphasized that the repacking plan's flexibility allowed the agency to accommodate delays and unexpected challenges. "It turned out that we needed over 500 times to exercise some sort of flexibility under the plan,” said IATF Deputy Chair Hillary DeNigro. Unexpected challenges included hurricanes and other weather, the pandemic and a government shutdown, said DeNigro and American Tower Vice President-Broadcast Peter Starke.
Pai said the auction and repack had repercussions that benefited the country during the pandemic. T-Mobile used 600 MHz spectrum to meet the increased demands on broadband, he said. The pandemic caused rising viewership of local TV news, which, Pai said, FCC polices helped preserve during the incentive auction, with only 41 stations selling their spectrum and going off-air. “You don’t have to project into the future to understand the benefits of repurposing this spectrum,” he said.