Telecom sector supply chain security and spectrum legislation drew enthusiastic support from House Communications Subcommittee members and witnesses during a Friday hearing, as expected (see 1909260056). They gave no clear guidance during on how they want to proceed on the seven measures the panel examined. Lawmakers focused much of their attention on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4459) and the Studying How to Harness Airwave Resources Efficiently Act (HR-4462), though they also showed interest in other measures.
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.
FCC members approved 5-0 a public notice Thursday seeking comment on an auction of priority access licenses (PALs), the licensed part of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. As expected, Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks raised concerns (see 1909230056) but voted to approve after each got changes to the notice. The auction is to start June 25.
America’s Communications Association and other members of the leading rival group to the C Band Alliance said they made tweaks to their proposal for the spectrum, filing in FCC docket 18-122 a supplement to their “5G Plus Plan.” The others behind the plan are the Competitive Carriers Association and Charter Communications. The biggest change is that the proposal increases the amount of reimbursable funds for programmers by about $800 million. “Our members share an interest in preserving a healthy ecosystem for video delivery, so we took these questions very seriously,” blogged ACA President Matt Polka: “After dozens of individual conversations with more than 10 programmers of different sizes, and a series of webinars with even more, we supplemented our plan with additional details that incorporate programmers’ feedback.” Polka urged the FCC to adopt the plan. “Charter’s perspective on the reallocation of c-band spectrum for 5G is informed by its position as a growing player in wireless and a provider of video programming and high speed broadband to millions of Americans living in urban, suburban and rural communities across 41 states,” a Charter spokesperson emailed. “The goal of this proceeding is to find a solution that clears and assigns C-band spectrum, efficiently and expeditiously, enabling 5G services in the U.S. as fast as practicable," emailed Peter Pitsch, CBA head-advocacy and government relations. “The ACA Connects’ ‘top-down’ proposal would foist a fiber-based concept on the entire video distribution system by an arbitrary date. The CBA plan remains the best way to balance all of these important priorities.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday he still expects a proposal in the fall. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he doesn't like the idea of a private auction, like the CBA proposal. Asked after the commissioners' monthly meeting if there's a band-clearing proposal he favors, he said "we need to be led by the science." He also wants to ensure the federal government and citizens "are the ones who benefit." Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel didn't comment.
Widespread 5G will mean many more Americans will have another choice of broadband provider, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. Carr said the FCC needs to continue its push to get the rules right for broadband deployment. But Carr didn’t discuss next steps or comment on regulatory changes sought by CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association, which the FCC put out for comment (see 1909130062).
Groups differ over how much broadband deployment data the FCC should collect from providers, in what form, and how others should be able to challenge its accuracy. Comments posted through Tuesday on docket 19-195 weighed in on the agency's plans to update its Form 477 broadband mapping reporting requirements (see 1908210008). Parties mostly agree more granular information is needed to ensure USF dollars are allocated properly in upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions (see 1906280059), but some say holding out for detailed location fabrics that attempt to pinpoint every serviceable structure in the nation could slow the program.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he remains hopeful the FCC will soon release an NPRM on sharing the 5.9 GHz band with unlicensed users, at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. “I did not say that I deferred to the Transportation Department on timing, but rather that I was working with DOT,” Pai said: “Those discussions continue and are productive and we hope to make progress in the near future." Pai highlighted the FCC’s three high-band auctions, with the largest to come later this year. Also important, the FCC’s work on the 2.5 GHz band, he said: “This summer, the FCC finally liberalized the rules for the band, allowing more entities to access the spectrum and eliminating unnecessary restrictions.” The FCC continues work on the C band, he said. “I’m optimistic that we will have results to show on this front this fall,” Pai said: “Also, the FCC is studying reallocation of spectrum in the 3.1 to 3.55 GHz band for commercial use, and I hope our federal partners will join us in that effort.” Pai said the work of the upcoming World Radiocommunication meeting will be important. “We need to enable regional and global spectrum harmonization opportunities for all services, including broadcasting, Wi-Fi, mobile technologies, and satellites,” he said: “We need to create international economies of scale, roaming, and interoperability, lowering prices for manufacturers and consumers.” Mid-band spectrum “will effectively serve as catalyst for future wireless services, especially 5G,” FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said at the same event: “While high bands have the capacity and low bands have the coverage, mid bands provide the combination that is needed to realistically deliver the promise of 5G speeds, capacity, and low latency to a large number of Americans, especially those not living in our large cities.” O’Rielly said the C band is the “easiest and most appropriate band identified” for 5G. O’Rielly said he expects a C-band order to be ready soon. “The FCC is near completion of its review process and is finalizing details for its reallocation, which should come later this fall,” he said: “This doesn’t suggest there won’t be some controversy or last-minute details to sort out, but it will mainly involve squabbling over the specifics rather than any fundamental disagreement regarding the premise.” The FCC doesn’t need to run a C band auction itself, he said. If the FCC has to run the auction “we are talking years -- and I mean years -- before completion,” he said: “We can certainly ensure transparency, accountability, fairness, and openness without having to run the auction ourselves.”
Tribal areas still don’t have all the broadband connectivity they need, though improvements are being made, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday at the National Tribal Broadband Summit. “Bringing high-speed connectivity to rural Tribal lands can be a game-changer,” Pai said: “It ... enables teleworking, job searches, and even starting an online business. It enables patients to consult with specialists without having to drive hours to the nearest hospital. And it enables students to take advanced math and science classes online, if they aren’t offered at the local school.” The Interior Department reports 73.3 percent of rural non-tribal locations have at least one broadband provider, compared with 46.6 percent of rural tribal locations. Pai emphasized tribal areas can obtain 2.5 GHz education broadband service licenses, under rules approved by commissioners in July (see 1907100054). “Before any commercial auction of this spectrum, Tribes can obtain this spectrum for free,” he said: “This is the first time in the FCC’s history that we have ever given Tribal entities what we call a ‘priority window’ to obtain spectrum for wireless broadband. ... I hope that Tribes will take advantage of it.”
Before the FCC starts issuing funds from its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), it needs to have its improved broadband mapping up and running, said Consolidated Communications CEO Bob Udell Monday in a taping for C-SPAN's The Communicators. Udell, who's also USTelecom chairman, said the shapefiles approach the agency adopted in August (see 1908010007) "is critical" to the next allocation of federal funding. He said Consolidated is intent on expanding its fiber network, and cell towers for 5G will drive some of that. The U.S. is at an "inflection point," akin to when the Rural Electrification Act was adopted, that could advance deployment through public and private investment, he said. Consolidated is among the telecom signatories to an agreement with state attorneys general on commitments to fight illegal robocalls (see 1908220060), and Udell said principles in that agreement are being used to guide its suppliers on criteria to implement secure handling of asserted information using tokens and secure telephone identity revisited caller authentication technology. He said trials of that tech are underway and rollout should be done in 2020. With Consolidated largely serving rural markets, he said 5G is less a competitive threat than an opportunity to provide services to wireless operators. Mobile service isn't a strategy for Consolidated in the foreseeable future like it is for Comcast, Charter and Altice, he said, but the company's considering bidding in the citizens broadband radio service spectrum auction, with that spectrum potentially being useful for private LTE networks to serve, for example, an office park lacking good cell coverage. He said Consolidated doesn't use Huawei equipment. He said it "thwart[s] attacks daily. It's a common factor when you operate communications infrastructure." Udell advocated a national privacy rules framework instead of a piecemeal approach state by state.
A proposed public notice on the 3.5 GHz auction could see questions at the commissioners’ meeting Thursday. Several parties have been at the FCC asking for changes and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks are still reviewing their votes and have questions about how the auction will work in practice, industry and FCC officials said. The most controversial aspect is that the notice would allow bidding in some cases on relatively large cellular market area (CMA) licenses.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 Thursday to advance to the floor its Financial Services FY 2020 budget bill with report language to pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The measure, which the Financial Services Subcommittee cleared Tuesday, would allocate $339 million to the FCC and its Office of Inspector General and $312.3 million to the FTC (see 1909170060). The House-passed equivalent (HR-3351) allocated the FCC the same funding level but gave the FTC $349.7 million -- $37 million more than Senate Appropriations proposes (see 1906260081).