Post-Auction TV Repacking Will Be Hugely Complicated, AT&T Warns FCC

said in the letter AT&T isn't commenting on how long the process should or might take. “Execution of large scale projects with complicated requirements like those contemplated by a robust broadcaster repacking plan contain inherent challenges and risks,” Marsh wrote. “We’ve seen this play out time and again, including with the DTV transition -- which took well over a decade to complete and merited three Congressional extensions of time -- and with the 800 MHz rebanding effort,” which started June 27, 2005, with a proposed 36-month time frame, but still isn't complete, she said. “Risks and challenges will abound, including: limits on the availability of necessary equipment; scarcity of skilled personnel necessary for planning, engineering analysis and construction; localized delays driven by weather, local regulations or other external events; and challenges repacking border markets that will rely on predicate action by Canadian and Mexican broadcasters,” Marsh wrote. There's not a “one-size solution” that “will fit all stations or all markets,” she said. Delays or the failure to properly plan or execute a plan could cause “significant” problems, particularly for the wireless industry, which “having spent billions for the spectrum,” will be eager to deploy licenses “as quickly as possible,” she said. “Failure to obtain timely access to the spectrum will have significant impact on the wireless industry, the products and services we provide, our customers and on the broader U.S. economy at large.” Broadcasters and some wireless carriers, particularly T-Mobile, have been at odds over whether the FCC should rethink the current 39-month repacking deadline for broadcasters (see 1602250038). NAB asked the FCC to impose a deadline only after it becomes clear how many licenses will change hands as a result of the auction.