Carriers Expected to Back Away from Arguments BAS Spectrum Should Be Reallocated for Wireless Broadband
Wireless carriers appear poised to back away from arguments the FCC should take 15 MHz of Broadcast Auxiliary Service spectrum band at 2095-2110 MHz and pair it with 1695-1710 MHz spectrum for an auction, industry lawyers told us. Filings were due at the end of the day Monday. NAB submitted its reply comments, but CTIA comments, expected to lay out a revised wireless industry position, weren’t available by our deadline.
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In October, NAB made it clear broadcasters are ready to walk away from any sharing proposal for 1755-1780 MHz unless carriers back down in their pursuit of the BAS spectrum (CD Oct 9 p1). NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan said at the time broadcasters had made progress in negotiating sharing of BAS spectrum with the Department of Defense, but those discussions broke down after CTIA proposed that the BAS block be reallocated.
"CTIA’s proposal ignores the value of existing operations in the BAS band and would eliminate, for the first time since completion of the National Broadband Plan, one active use in favor of another,” NAB said in a reply posted by the FCC Monday (http://bit.ly/1g7AylI). “We note that the few commenters supporting the proposal do not even acknowledge the impact that removing two of the seven channels assigned to BAS would have on broadcasters’ ability to provide local news coverage, nor do they offer any reasonable solutions that would alleviate the resulting harm.”
Some commenters, including CTIA, “suggest, for example, that in lieu of dedicated channels in the BAS band that provide clear and interference free feeds from remote newsgathering operations to the main studio, broadcasters should use either ‘off-the-shelf LTE equipment’ or ‘Skype,'” NAB said. “While services like mobile broadband and Skype can provide minimal and last-resort video feeds for local and national newscasts, they are typically reserved for interviews or very distant reporting where more reliable and higher-quality feeds are not available. They would in no way serve as a viable alternative to existing electronic newsgathering (ENG) operations."
T-Mobile cites problems with reallocating the BAS block for broadband, in a filing that hadn’t yet been posted by the FCC. “The record has revealed challenges associated with this pairing. Incumbent federal satellite and non-federal Broadcast Auxiliary Service ... operations currently use the 2095-2110 MHz band,” T-Mobile said. “DoD also has proposed the use of the 2095-2110 MHz band for relocation from 1755-1780 MHz, although T-Mobile and other commenters urge limited relocation of DoD’s systems to 2095-2110 MHz.” T-Mobile suggested the FCC consider asking Congress for more time to find spectrum to pair with the 1695-1710 MHz band, which must be auctioned by February 2015 under last year’s spectrum law. “The process of identifying spectrum to pair with 1695-1710 MHz may require more time than the deadline for auctioning the AWS-3 spectrum permits,” the carrier said.
CTIA comments will be available after they are filed at the FCC, a spokeswoman said.