FCC's O'Rielly Open to Formal Requests To Delay Incentive Auction

"I'm comfortable with that timeline, but what I have said is that I will continue to be vigilant," O'Rielly said, adding that he "will listen to legitimate arguments for why the auction should be delayed." There are anecdotal concerns that wireless carriers may not be ready for the auction, while broadcasters may have difficulty finding teams for towers, he said. "There's just two examples. There are probably many more."

There are no "official requests" pending for a delay, O'Rielly said: "We should be pretty close to being done with the incentive auction by this time next year. ... I certainly hope that we can move forward on that timeline. But we have to make sure we produce a successful auction." The FCC had no immediate comment.

Spectrum and net neutrality were much discussed on the closing day of the conference. Carriers will continue to need licensed spectrum, industry officials said Thursday, as they had previously at the TIA event (see 1506030055">1506030055). O'Rielly said spectrum sharing is important, but "we're still going to need cleared spectrum, we are still going to need licensed spectrum." TIA CEO Scott Belcher said "we will look to squeeze every bit of spectrum that we can," because spectrum availability will continue to be a big issue for the association.

While Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is "wildly optimistic about" prospects for the incentive auction, "we are not a one-trick wonder here," she said. The agency will look for spectrum sharing and efficiency opportunities, she said. "We have to talk about sharing opportunities" and "we've got to extract efficiencies where we can find them," which may mean repurposing and sharing frequencies, she added.

Sharing spectrum requires trust, said Frederick Moorefield, director of the Defense Department's Office of Chief Information Officer's spectrum policy and programs: "It is critical that we get this right." Preventing harmful interference, protecting incumbents and letting new entrants "flourish" can be goals, he said. "We are at an inflection point."

April FCC citizens broadband radio service rules are a "recent spectrum success story" that protects defense uses of radio waves and shows the effectiveness of DOD, FCC, NTIA and industry coordination, Moorefield said. "The success of the FCC AWS-3 auction also points to important benefits of trust building" as industry and government look to spectrum sharing, he said. "DOD is embracing spectrum sharing solutions" to help address military requirements and broadband needs, he said. "DOD and all of us need regulatory predictability so the terms of spectrum sharing are well understood."

Telco ISP panelists, meanwhile, criticized the FCC net neutrality order reclassifying broadband as a Title II Communications Act service and how the recent order departed from the narrower debate before previous rules that lost in court. In 2010, "we were able to reach a compromise around those bright-line rules" barring certain behavior such as ISPs' not allowing full access to legal content, AT&T Vice President-Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh said. Now, discussion has "vastly expanded" to Title II and a "much more intensive regulatory framework" touching on interconnection, privacy "and all kinds of other areas that really weren't part of the original dialog," she said. What tends to be forgotten in discussion over net neutrality is that Verizon and other ISPs "have been very supportive of an open Internet," Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory and Legal Affairs Kathleen Grillo said. "There has been amazing consensus on that issue across the board."