GOP Lawmakers Seek FCC Auction of 3.45-3.55 GHz Band by End of 2021
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., filed the Beat China by Harnessing Important, National Airwaves for 5G Act Wednesday in a bid to codify the DOD’s deal with the FCC to sell commercial use of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band (see 2008100038). Americans for Tax Reform, Heritage Action, TechFreedom and 40 other right-leaning groups, meanwhile, raised concerns with Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., that DOD’s recent request for information on dynamic spectrum sharing of the frequency slice (see 2009210056) could be an avenue to 5G nationalization.
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The Beat China for 5G Act would require the FCC to begin an auction of the 3.45-3.55 GHz spectrum by Dec. 31, 2021. Thune is co-sponsoring the Senate version, and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., are backing the House companion. The FCC unanimously approved a Further NPRM last week (see 2009300034).
“It is essential for the U.S. to win the race to 5G against China, and we need to unleash critical mid-band spectrum to get us there,” the lawmakers said: “Freeing up the 3.45-3.55 GHz band for commercial use will propel U.S. innovation in deploying next generation technology, expanding the Internet of Things, closing the digital divide, increasing internet access for schools and students, and improving connectivity across communities.” AT&T, the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA and Verizon praised the lawmakers for filing the bill.
ATR and the other conservative groups told Thune they’re alarmed by “rumors” the DOD’s RFI “was only for show,” and the department already has a request for proposal “it plans to greenlight” that would allow 5G nationalization. Thune led a letter with other GOP senators last week saying the RFI contradicts the existing “free-market path” on 5G "that will enable [the U.S.] to win” the global 5G race. “Nationalizing 5G and experimenting with untested models for 5G deployment is not the way [the U.S.] wins the 5G race,” the conservative groups said. “It makes no sense to think that the DoD, starting from zero, could deploy these networks faster or more efficiently. It would cost tens of billions of taxpayer dollars and take decades to build a network from scratch to nationalize our communications system.”
Spectrum sharing “is something that must be considered as the nation moves forward with private networks, but it is not a reason for a government takeover,” the groups said. “For a government-run network to happen, the federal government would have to either renege on licenses granted to private users or hoard spectrum at the expense of private industry. Either approach would upend well-established licensure policies at the FCC that establish certainty in operating and maintaining complex networks and create massive unnecessary delays to launching 5G network.”
The outcry over the DOD RFI is just the latest bout in “Washington’s unhinged battle over spectrum use, or, more precisely, spectrum jurisdiction,” said MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett. “While the possibility of a national 5G network is unquestionably the most significant manifestation of that incoherence, it extends to” the FCC’s “uncoordinated” approval of Ligado’s L-band plan (see 2004200039). “By any reading, that all of the branches of government are working against each other is chaotic and incoherent,” Moffett said. “For all the talk about what changes” potential major Democratic gains in the November election “might bring, it is the status quo that is more uncertain, at least from a telecom perspective. ... One can’t even say with certainty that the idea of a national 5G network would go away if the Democrats win.”