FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the U.S. needs to play more of a leadership role in ITU, as the world gets ready for the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019. O’Rielly conceded the kind of changes he seeks won’t be easy. “All things that are very important are tough,” he said at 5G Americas conference Thursday (and see here).
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
The FCC proposed changing rules for the 3.5 GHz shared band, providing larger licenses for the priority access licenses (PALs) that will be offered at auction to carriers and others. The change was largely expected based on earlier comments by Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 1708010058), who oversaw development of revised rules. The change was opposed by New America, General Electric and others hoping census tract-sized licenses would attract investment from owners of industrial facilities, plus schools, hospitals and others.
Verizon doesn’t see net neutrality legislation as very likely soon, said Kathy Grillo, senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, in an interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators to be televised starting Saturday and to be available online. Congress is “looking hard” at net neutrality, Grillo said. “Congress has a lot on its agenda -- tax reform, healthcare, some of these nominations,” she said. “There is a growing consensus that we need some kind of framework.” Different FCCs approving different sets of rules doesn’t make sense for consumers, she said.
Companies interested in using the 3.5 GHz band made the case for leaving FCC rules largely as they are, rather than making changes proposed by CTIA and T-Mobile (see 1706200081), said speakers at a panel Wednesday sponsored by New America’s Wireless Future Program. Rules are expected to change, especially on the licensed portion of the shared band, and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly is leading an initiative to rewrite them. O’Rielly said he wants to leave the three-tier structure for the band in place, while making the licensed part more attractive for investment (see 1708010058). The three tiers are federal incumbents, priority access licenses (PALs) and general access, akin to Wi-Fi. O’Rielly believes the census-tract levels for the PALs are too small.
The Ajit Pai FCC's top wireless priorities are making more spectrum available for flexible use in the low, mid- and high bands, policies that identify and eliminate barriers to infrastructure deployment, and policies that extend wireless to unserved and underserved areas, Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale said at an FCBA event Wednesday. He said barriers are "one of the critical issues" the agency is facing in 5G deployment, with the other chief hurdle being the freeing up of more spectrum for fifth generation.
Rural interests urged the FCC to ease small provider participation in a reverse auction of Connect America Fund Phase II subsidies for fixed broadband services, while Microsoft said its "vision aligns closely" with the agency's goals. Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday in docket 10-90 responding to a public notice on proposed procedures for auctioning up to $1.98 billion in cumulative support over 10 years (see 1708070032) in rural areas where large telcos declined support. A rural electric and telco coalition said the commission should simplify the auction, modify anti-collusion rules to ease small-provider use of outside experts, and strengthen safeguards against waste, fraud and abuse. The Rural Wireless Association sought "flexible" anti-collusion rules and backed using census block groups as the minimum geographic bidding area. Saying the PN "would take several steps backward," the Wireless ISP Association agreed smaller providers need "flexibility to engage" expert assistance, proposing a "safe harbor" to "enable a consultant to represent one bidder in each census block group without being considered a potential conduit for prohibited communications." Proposed financial qualification reviews and certain other procedures need adjustments, said USTelecom.
A pending FCC spectrum frontiers order is widely expected to resolve issues teed up in a July 2016 Further NPRM, while authorizing additional bands for 5G, industry officials agree. Chairman Ajit Pai promised the order was on its way, at CTIA last week (see 1709120058). The FCC likely also will propose rules for spectrum above 95 GHz in another FNPRM, we're told.
A theme of the Mobile World Congress Americas Wednesday was that, driven by advancements in wireless, the world is in the middle of a fourth industrial revolution. Verizon Wireless Group President Ronan Dunne said as a newcomer to the U.S., he feels lucky to get here “as the first glimpses of this new world are coming into view.” Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said some are skeptical about promises of this new digital age. And Sprint's CEO warned that local roadblocks are a hurdle, saying he discussed it with the president.
Apple’s endorsement of the Qi wireless charging standard in its iPhone 8 and X announcements Tuesday (see 1709120062) is “huge” for the wireless charging industry, engineering consultant LeRoy Johnson told us Wednesday. After Apple’s entry into the Wireless Power Consortium in February, there were questions whether Apple would use Qi or a “variation” of Qi, said Johnson. The confirmation of full Qi compatibility on next-generation iPhones opens the door for a broad wireless charging infrastructure, said Johnson. Apple’s adoption “is going to make people start demanding it, asking for it at their desk at work, in their cupholders in cars, on nightstands,” he said. Johnson believes the infrastructure will build quickly in public spaces. There’s an installed base of some 90 smartphone models with Qi built in, said Johnson.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he will propose by year-end to open additional high-frequency bands for 5G, building on the 28, 37 and 39 GHz reallocated last year (see 1607140052). Pai was among the first speakers Tuesday at GSMA’s first Mobile World Congress Americas, co-hosted by CTIA in San Francisco. Much of his speech focused on his usual big themes, including tackling the digital divide and eliminating unnecessary regulation.