Every C-band receive location in the U.S. could be connected to fiber as a replacement for satellite delivery of content for about $1 billion, “demonstrating that it is cost effective to clear all 500 MHz of C- band spectrum” for 5G, T-Mobile filed in comments posted Monday in FCC docket 18-122. T-Mobile submitted a study by Roberson and Associates supporting that proposal. Officials from T-Mobile and the consultant also reported on meetings to present the study. The filing opposes the C-Band Alliance’s proposal.
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.
Reliability of an online content delivery network (CDN) to replace GOES rebroadcast (GRB) weather data from NOAA is being questioned by some in the weather and satellite community as the FCC seeks comment on proposed allocation and service rules for the 1675-1680 MHz band. Weather interests also raised red flags about possible interference issues (see 1906210056).
Approving T-Mobile buying Sprint is “one of the most critical steps the FCC can take” to promote mid-band 5G, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday at the New York State Wireless Association conference. Earlier, wireless officials complained here in New York City that some cities continue to resist 5G despite FCC and state pre-emptions.
The FCC posted the draft order reallocating the 2.5 GHz band for auction and lifting educational requirements for the educational broadband service spectrum. Officials said Wednesday it's likely the item that gets the most attention headed into the meeting. Groups that promote greater use of EBS slammed the order after it was posted. Other July 10 meeting items also were released Wednesday: 1906190067 and 1906190044.
Educational interests got little of what they were hoping for in draft FCC rules on the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band, in an order circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai for the July 10 commissioners' meeting and as expected (see 1906120043). Pai didn’t circulate a rulemaking on the 5.9 GHz band, which some expected, after it, like the 2.5 GHz item, didn’t make the cut for the June meeting (see 1905130054). The 5G items top a busy July 10 agenda (see 1906180080).
AT&T won licenses covering more than 98 percent of the U.S. population in the 24 GHz auction, it said Monday. The company said it's buying spectrum in 383 partial economic areas for a nationwide average of 254 MHz. All the licenses are in “the more valuable upper 500 MHz portion of the 24 GHz band, giving AT&T stronger nationwide coverage and additional spectrum depth and capacity in many top markets where demand is often greatest,” it said. “AT&T will use the spectrum to bolster its mobile 5G strategy.” The licenses cover all but one of the 100 largest PEAs. Starry, a fixed-wireless broadband provider, said Tuesday it won 104 licenses, covering 51 markets in 25 states and more than 60 million people. “Combined with Starry’s current deployment roadmap, Starry’s fixed wireless footprint will reach more than 40 million households, covering more than 25 percent of all U.S. households,” it said.
Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken discussed the 2.5 GHz educational broadband service band, in a meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, said a Monday filing in docket 18-120. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose new 2.5 GHz rules for a vote at the July 10 commissioners’ meeting (see 1906120043). “WISPA’s preference for an open eligibility auction designed with a 63-megahertz limit (roughly half of the EBS spectrum) on the amount of spectrum a bidder could acquire at an auction” would “ensure that multiple parties would be better able to compete for spectrum and in the marketplace,” the group said.
If the FCC OKs Ligado's pending license modifications to let it use 35 MHz of mid-band spectrum for 5G, it would be an active participant in any agency auction for the 1675-1680 MHz and likely "ensure" a successful auction by meeting a reasonable reserve price. That according to Ligado officials and economic consultants who met with Office of Economics and Analytics, Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staffers, recounted a docket 19-116 ex parte posting Monday. Ligado said without that license modification approval, its robust auction participation and its ability to create a 10 MHz contiguous block with the 1760-1675 MHz band is in question. The company said that could mean lower auction price and ultimately a delay in 5G.
Wireless ISPs need more and better spectrum to succeed, WISP Association officials said in a briefing for Capitol Hill staffers Wednesday. WISPA officials are especially hopeful about the 2.5 GHz band, a likely target of the FCC at its July 10 meeting.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and other commissioners placed blame for recent hiccups in work to free up spectrum for commercial 5G use squarely on the Commerce Department and NOAA, during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Pai used the panel to announce pending FCC action to improve the agency's broadband coverage data collection practices, which have come up repeatedly in Capitol Hill communications policy hearings (see 1905150061). Senators also used the panel to probe FCC actions on other communications policy items, including GOP commissioners' public support for T-Mobile's proposed buy of Sprint.