The FCC should reverse a Wireless Bureau consent order approving the AT&T/FiberTower deal and auction FiberTower’s terminated licenses, the Competitive Carriers Association said. “The Bureau did not conduct a meaningful analysis of the AT&T/FiberTower Transaction’s competitive impact or public interest benefits, and CCA strongly encourages the Commission to instead auction the valuable spectrum,” said CCA President Steve Berry in a news release. “AT&T fails to provide an adequate defense of the Bureau’s decision and wrongly suggests the public will benefit from the Transaction. Allowing one of the nation’s largest carriers to gain an enormous swath of valuable spectrum resources causes a real threat of additional spectrum aggregation to the detriment of American taxpayers, competition, and the overall economy.” The bureau authorized AT&T to take control of 39 GHz licenses as part of its buy of FiberTower in February (see 1802080055). The FCC and AT&T didn't comment.
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 released its tentative agenda for the April 17 commissioners’ meeting, and as indicated in a Monday blog post by Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1803260028), it contains proposals on rural call completion and rural business data service (BDS) actions, and a public notice on the 28 GHz and 24 GHz band auctions. Along with the tentative agenda, the agency released draft versions of the items proposed for the meeting. The FCC proposes to use its standard simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) auction format for the upcoming auction of the 28 GHz band and a clock-auction format for the 24 GHz band, the draft 5G PN said. “By initiating the pre-auction processes for Auctions 101 and 102, we take another important step to promote the deployment of fifth-generation wireless, the Internet of Things, and other advanced spectrum-based services at frequencies above 24 GHz,” the FCC said in the notice. “In doing so, we help ensure continued American leadership in wireless broadband, which represents a critical component of economic growth, job creation, public safety, and global competitiveness.” Differences between the bands dictate the need for different auction formats, the FCC said. "For example, the similarities among blocks in the 24 GHz band facilitate using a clock auction with generic blocks, which will speed up the bidding relative to license-by-license bidding, which is needed when blocks in the band are less uniformly available, as in 28 GHz," the FCC said. The agency said it will offer a total of 5,986 licenses through the two auctions. The agenda also includes an NPRM on barring USF recipients from using risky international suppliers, a proposal to streamline commercial satellite authorization, and media deregulation items on broadcast ancillary services and cable channel listings. As expected, the broadcast ancillary services item doesn’t include changes to broadcast notice rules.
Cable and telco executives said Congress should resolve the net neutrality dispute and end policy flip-flops that, one suggested, threaten broadband investment more than heavy regulation. "It's time to put the rules in place and move on," said Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen at a Free State Foundation conference Tuesday. But the executives expressed more hope than optimism, with some pessimistic about the near-term prospects. Recent revelations and concerns about the use of Facebook data could drive privacy legislation discussions, some said. Others focused on 5G wireless and fiber deployment efforts.
The circulation of draft orders three weeks before meetings has apparently led to a big falloff in the number of ex parte visits to the FCC, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said at a Free State Foundation conference Tuesday. O’Rielly spoke on a panel with fellow Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr. Both also said more than three months after the 3-2 FCC vote to overturn the 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1712140039) they remain convinced the FCC made the right move. Earlier, Chairman Ajit Pai and NTIA Administrator David Redl outlined various initiatives, including to promote 5G.
The FCC is eyeing rural call completion and rural business data service (BDS) actions among others at its April 17 commissioners' meeting. A rural call completion item would set new rules seeking to improve long-distance provider monitoring of "intermediate providers" while easing reporting requirements, and seek comment on a recently enacted rural call law, blogged Chairman Ajit Pai Monday. The item combines an order and Further NPRM, said an agency official. Pai said a separate NPRM would look to offer BDS "inventive regulation" to rural telcos receiving model-based Connect America Fund broadband-oriented support.
President Donald Trump signed the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) Friday, despite a last-minute threat to veto the measure. The Senate passed the omnibus early Friday 65-32, after behind-the-scenes "begging, pleading and cajoling" to assuage objections from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the floor.
AT&T officials discussed alternatives for “temporarily repacking the 37.6-40 GHz band" before an eventual auction of millimeter wave spectrum, said a filing in docket 14-177. In a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale, “AT&T also discussed the auction proposal it submitted previously in this docket; a clock auction, with generic, fungible spectrum blocks to be followed by an assignment phase,” the filing said. “AT&T advocated for an auction including all of the mmW bands at the earliest possible date.” The agency offered a plan for an auction of the spectrum in December (see 1712120010).
The Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) and other tech and telecom policy provisions included in the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625) moved a step closer to enactment Thursday when the House passed the measure 256-167. House leaders released the bill's full text Wednesday evening after a deal between President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill leaders (see 1803210041 and 1803210068). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., filed cloture on the spending bill late Thursday, setting up a first vote around 1 a.m. Saturday, shortly after the current continuing resolution to fund the government is set to expire. McConnell and others remained concerned Thursday that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., might move to force a brief government shutdown, as he did in February (see 1802060054 and Notebook at the end of 1802090050).
Trump administration officials' repeated citations of the national security implications of maintaining U.S. leadership in 5G innovation are a sign Congress needs to act on broader telecom policy issues that would help sustain that dominance, lawmakers and industry officials told us. The administration mentioned 5G deployment in its December national security strategy (see 1712180071 and 1712270032).
The FY 2018 omnibus spending bill contains language from the House-passed Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), as expected. House leaders released the spending bill's text Wednesday evening. The House could vote on the measure as soon as Thursday, with a Senate vote to follow. The current continuing resolution to fund the government expires Friday.