Rosenworcel Proposes Standard Auction for 3.45 GHz

In an apparent win for carriers, acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing a standard auction for the 3.45-3.55 GHz band, offering the big license sizes favored by national providers. The auction would start Oct. 5 and use an ascending clock format. The FCC also released its open radio access network notice of inquiry and public safety items for the March 17 commissioners’ meeting.

This could be the next big 5G auction. The FCC unveiled the winners of the recently concluded C-band auction, which was dominated by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile (see 2102180041). Verizon won the most licenses at 3,511, followed by AT&T (1,621) and UScellular (254). Dish Network’s Little Bear Wireless bid just $2.5 million for one license. Cablers sat out the auction. Comcast and Charter’s C&C Wireless didn’t win any licenses, nor did Cox Communications. New Level II, funded by investor David Grain, won 10 licenses for $1.28 billion.

“Unfortunately, the auction’s $15 billion reserve price, most of that needed to pay the cost of clearing Navy radar off the band, has led to an auction format that like C band is designed to exclude all but the very largest mobile carriers,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America.

The regulator proposes to offer the spectrum in unpaired blocks, licensed by partial economic area (PEAs). The draft proposes a single bidding category offering generic blocks in the 334 PEAs where all blocks are the same, and two categories in 72 PEAs where requirements differ between the two subsets. Comments would be due on the competitive bidding procedures April 14, replies April 29.

NCTA, Federated Wireless, the Wireless ISP Association and others asked to instead pattern the auction on the shared citizens broadband radio service band (see 2102190046). CTIA and T-Mobile pressed for a more traditional auction. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks was open to CBRS-style rules, an aide said Tuesday (see 2102230065).

Rosenworcel proposes bidding credit caps of $25 million for small businesses and $10 million for rural service providers, with a $10 million cap on the overall bidding credits a small business bidder may apply in smaller markets. The aggregate reserve price would be $14.8 billion -- 110% of the relocation and sharing costs projected by NTIA. All licenses would be issued for 15-year, renewable terms, and no single bidder could hold more than two in any market for the first four years after the close of the auction.

The ORAN NOI asks how open networks could help make the 5G supply chain more secure. The draft seeks comment on “the status of Open RAN: where the technology is today, and what steps are required to deploy Open RAN networks broadly and at scale.” The Wireless Bureau created docket 21-63 for ORAN filings.

The draft asks for input on “whether, and if so, how, deployment of Open RAN-compliant networks could further the Commission’s policy goals and statutory obligations, advance legislative priorities, and benefit American consumers by making state-of-the-art wireless broadband available faster and to more people.” The FCC noted that the inquiry comes as many providers consider “which equipment to deploy” as they move to 5G and some look at replacing equipment from Huawei and ZTE.

Commissioners will also vote on an NPRM and a Notice of Inquiry on changes to wireless emergency alert rules that implement provisions of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that are partially a reaction to the 2018 false missile alert in Hawaii. The NPRM proposes a new kind of national alert, increasing requirements and FCC oversight for state emergency coordination committees and false alert reporting requirements, said an FCC release. The NOI would seek comment on the feasibility of delivering emergency alerts through streaming services and using the internet to enhance current emergency alert system provider capabilities.

An order on communications outages would provide access for state agencies to filings in the FCC network outage and disaster information reporting systems and let them disseminate that information. The order is intended to allow agencies to use the data to “improve their situational awareness, enhance their ability to respond more quickly to outages impacting their communities, and help save lives, while safeguarding the confidentiality of this data,” said an fact sheet. At the NPRM stage last year, then-Commissioner Rosenworcel dissented (see 2002280069), seeking more expansive rules that would include field hearings. The draft order doesn’t appear to include such provisions.