Wireless Spectrum Auctions

Nathan Simington was confirmed to the FCC Tuesday after a largely muted Senate floor debate. Senate Democrats and groups opposed to Simington in the lead-up to the vote continued to raise concerns about the 2-2 commission deadlock that will result from his confirmation, once Chairman Ajit Pai leaves Jan. 20 (see 2011300032). Many also cited the FCC’s proposed proceeding on its Communications Decency Act Section 230 interpretation, a matter critics believe Simington should recuse himself from because he worked on NTIA’s petition for the rulemaking (see 2011100070).

The FCC’s C-band auction opened Tuesday with $1.9 billion in bids after the initial two bidding rounds. The auction continues Wednesday with three rounds. Most observers are focused on Verizon and how much it bids as the major carrier with the least mid-band spectrum. The auction opened despite a late challenge from aviation interests raising interference concerns. Earlier in the day, a court ruled it won't intervene in related FCC activities (see 2012080020).

Reallocate the 3.45-3.55 GHz band based on flexible use rules, similar to those in the C band, CTIA told the FCC in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 19-348. Carriers offered similar advice, while others said sharing would mean faster use of the spectrum. Commissioners sought comment in a Further NPRM approved 5-0 in September (see 2009300034). “Action is essential to further promoting nationwide, full-power, wide-area 5G service, which will drive a dynamic 5G ecosystem across the United States,” CTIA said. The group opposed rules based on sharing in the citizens broadband radio service band: “While the CBRS framework shows promise and offers new opportunities, it is subject to lower power limits, a complex spectrum sharing scheme, and other technical limitations.” T-Mobile said CBRS-style sharing is “antithetical” to DOD’s process in making the band available. That process “determined that the spectrum can be cleared over the majority of the contiguous United States with targeted protections for federal users.” The FCC is well aware that “CBRS power levels and narrower channels would hamper development of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band as a true 5G band because the power levels are significantly lower than standard commercial wireless networks and the smaller channel sizes are not optimized for wide-bandwidth, low-latency 5G applications,” Verizon commented. View 3.45-3.55 GHz as a “first step toward making the entire 3.3-3.55 GHz band available for commercial flexible use,” the Competitive Carriers Association said. Federated Wireless argued for sharing. A sharing framework “is the only path to commercial use in the band that is fast, equitable, and supportive of a diverse set of use cases, leading to the most expeditious and intensive use of the band,” Federated said: “Extension of the CBRS sharing framework to the 3.45 GHz band will reduce coordination burdens on both federal and commercial users, while avoiding the interference problems that the vast majority of commenters predict will occur should the proposed rules be adopted.” The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance agreed: "Extending the existing CBRS framework would be the most expedient way to make this critical spectrum available for commercial 5G operations, rather than waiting for a more complicated and time-consuming clearing and auction process.” In the CBRS auction, 10 utilities submitted winning bids totaling more than $174 million for 371 priority access licenses, the Utilities Technology Council said. “Adopt county-based licenses and auction the licenses in 10 megahertz blocks, which will promote opportunities to build upon the success of the CBRS auction by enabling CBRS licensees to more easily combine their CBRS spectrum with the 3.45-3.55 GHz band.”

The FCC terminated a 2015 proceeding on preserving a vacant channel for use by TV white space devices and wireless mics, said an order Tuesday in docket 15-146. “In light of other actions we have taken during the years since the rules were proposed, coupled with the increased burden that the 2015 proposal would place on the use by broadcasters of spectrum” post-600 MHz incentive auction, the proposal “would not serve the public interest,” said the unanimously voted order. Wireless mic companies sought to keep the docket open after the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau announced its impending closure, while NAB pushed for its termination, the order said. “We continue to support unlicensed white space devices and wireless microphone user operations and continue to believe they serve important interests,” the order said.

The C-band auction set to start Tuesday is expected to bring in $35 billion, with Verizon likely an aggressive bidder and AT&T and T-Mobile active, Citi analyst Michael Rollins wrote investors Thursday. T-Mobile is presumably focused on spectrum below 6 GHz and might want at least 61 MHz of the band, he said. Comcast's and Charter Communications' expanded and extended mobile virtual network operation with Verizon could mean they take an opportunistic approach to buying a national slice of the band, he said. Dish Network might take part, but any incremental spectrum purchases will increase the company’s already big funding needs to build a national 5G network, he said. He said Dish's growing capital needs for its wireless strategy could lead to it trying to monetize its video business and tee up combining with DirecTV, he said. TDS and UScellular will likely seek at least 60 MHz in its current footprint, he said.

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Wireless ISPs are expected to drive deployment of priority access licenses in the citizens broadband radio service band, likely being the first to deploy after the FCC finishes assigning licenses from the PAL auction that ended Aug. 25. Some larger auction bidders are starting to lay out plans. Experts and others said in interviews that auction winners will likely start to use their licenses in Q1, after the FCC finalizes channel assignments and conveys the licenses.

Dish Network still has de facto control over SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless. The two designated entities remain ineligible for $3.3 billion in DE bidding credits they sought for licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction. They don't owe the FCC that amount, having defaulted on 197 licenses and paid full price for the remaining spectrum they won in the 2015 auction. That's according to an order on remand Monday by the full commission regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding in 2017 the FCC's denial of AWS-3 auction bidding credits to the DEs but giving them a chance to negotiate a solution (see 1708290012).

SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless remain under de facto Dish Network control and thus aren't eligible for $3.3 billion in designated entity bidding credits they sought for licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction, the full FCC said in an order Monday. This arose from issues remanded from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2017 after it upheld FCC denial of the auction bidding credits but gave the DEs a chance to negotiate a solution to the Dish control.

The Office of Engineering and Technology is keeping up with demand, as much of the FCC spectrum agenda flows through his office, said Ron Williams, chief of OET’s Laboratory Division. There’s a lot going on “behind the curtain to make sure the show goes on,” he told FCBA Thursday. “I know sometimes it seems like it’s hard to get an answer, but I’ve been chartered to streamline the processes.”