FCC Chairman Ajit Pai touted his "Fast Plan" to spur 5G. "We're aiming to free up more spectrum over the next 15 months than is currently held" by every mobile provider combined, he noted Friday in a Federalist Society speech largely tracking written remarks. He said low earth orbit satellite constellations, like those approved Thursday (see 1811150028), could be a "game changer" for broadband-hungry areas.
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 has rarely held multiple spectrum auctions at once, but it’s not clear what industry wants the agency to do, Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale said at an FCBA lunch Wednesday. Meanwhile, the FCC started its first millimeter-wave auction, with bids coming in at just under $41.7 million after two rounds. It reported provisionally winning bids on 2,065 of the 3,072 28 GHz licenses for sale in the auction. The FCC plans three rounds Thursday, starting at 10 a.m.
Wireless Communications Association representatives met an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and with Wireless Bureau staff to urge the FCC to adopt the group's proposed approach on 2.5 GHz educational broadband service spectrum. WCA wants the FCC to “rationalize” existing EBS geographic service areas to the country boundary, open eligibility in the band to commercial licensees and then auction remaining EBS white spaces. “Unlike alternative proposals, this approach is most likely to result in auctioning of the EBS white space without the years of delay that otherwise would be required to identify the specific spectrum available at auction,” the group said. WCA opposes an incentive auction, here and here, posted in docket 18-120 Thursday. Voqal and the North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation also held a series of meetings on EBS. They “explained how the Commission can best achieve its goal of intensive use of EBS spectrum while promoting both rural deployment and educational use by modernizing, but retaining, its educational eligibility and usage rules, and automatically rationalizing existing license areas along county lines for all licensees.” They met with aides to the commissioners, except O'Rielly, and Wireless Bureau staff.
Opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed is seen by advocates as important to move many applications to the next level. There's pressure on the FCC to address the band. Commissioners approved an NPRM at their Oct. 23 meeting (see 1810230038).
Sprint emphasized the importance of 2.5 GHz spectrum to 5G deployment in meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau officials. Sprint repeated arguments (see 1810160012) against an incentive auction in the band. “Its leased 2.5 GHz spectrum" is critical and "its longstanding mutually beneficial partnership with the [educational broadband service] community" has "enhanced Sprint’s current LTE deployment and will enable its 5G mobile deployment in nine major markets in the first half of 2019,” it said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-120.
The FCC Wireless Bureau said Wednesday 58 of the 60 applications to bid in the upcoming 24 GHz auction have been deemed complete. S&T Communications and Spectrum Financial Partners were incomplete, said an order in docket 18-85. The auction starts after the 28 GHz auction ends.
LAS VEGAS -- A key telecom challenge is to ensure regional and smaller providers can compete in a market dominated by large national players, Windstream CEO Tony Thomas said Wednesday. He said his company is the No. 5 fiber provider, with half a million locations on-net. "We can't be a national provider without some sort of basic, functioning wholesale market," he said, noting the need to serve business customers with scattered locations. He backed spectrum policies that do more to allow smaller bidders to compete with the big four national wireless carriers and voiced concern about large tech companies gobbling up upstarts.
Most commenters welcome moves to open the 3.4-4.2 GHz C-band for 5G, as some question the FCC’s proposed market-based approach to making licenses available. Questions remain how to create a smooth glide path there for satellite operators. Tuesday, some said the FCC appears to want to move quickly on the band, but final rules are unlikely until late 2019.
AT&T officials met with FCC staff on the proposed design for a 39 GHz auction. Among those at the meeting was Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale. "Parties discussed the Commission’s proposed pre-auction voucher exchange, including issues specific to incumbents who exchange vouchers with an intent to participate in the auction and incumbents who exchange vouchers with an intent to retain their existing spectrum holdings without participation in the clock phase,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-177.
T-Mobile's broadside at Dish Network's IoT plans is likely at least partially payback for Dish's opposition to T-Mobile buying Sprint, experts told us. The timing of the wireless company's letter to FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Don Stockdale (see 1810260047) -- a month after Dish joined public interest and consumer groups and representatives of mostly rural carriers in opposition (see 1808280038) -- reads as "sour grapes retribution," said Gigi Sohn, Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law and Policy fellow. Dish fought back.