No Mobility Fund II, C Band Auctions Scheduled in Next Fiscal Year, FCC Says
The FCC Office of Economics and Analytics projects three auctions from now through Sept. 30, 2020. Two are already scheduled and a third was promised by Chairman Ajit Pai. The notice doesn’t mention any auctions tied to the USF, including a Mobility Fund II auction. A C-band auction didn’t make the list. The first auction listed is that of the 37, 39, 47 GHz bands, to start Dec. 10 (see 1904120065) and the second is the 3.5 GHz priority access licenses auction, to start June 25 (see 1909260040). The third hasn’t been scheduled, for 2.5 GHz educational broadband service licenses.
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“Sounds like they are not going to hold an MF II auction in FY 2020 and that they are going to have to retool the process due to mapping issues,” said Caressa Bennet, counsel to the Rural Wireless Association.
Pai said in December the agency is investigating if top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps in violation of MF-II rules (see 1812070048). The FCC is looking into the accuracy of coverage maps after a preliminary review of the 20.8 million speed tests filed in a challenge process ended in November. The MF-I auction was Sept. 27, 2012. In February 2017, commissioners approved 3-0 a second phase (see 1702230042), which provides $453 million in annual support for winning bidders to preserve and extend 4G LTE in areas where the market otherwise wouldn't support wireless broadband. The support is for 10 years.
“The Commission will hold a Tribal priority window to enable Tribal nations an opportunity to obtain EBS licenses to provide service on rural Tribal lands,” OEA said. “This window will be followed by a system of competitive bidding to assign geographic area licenses for the remaining unused portions of the band for commercial use. The Chairman has indicated that this 2.5 GHz band auction will occur during 2020.”
With one high-band and two mid-band auctions on the list, the FCC is providing lots of opportunities for carriers and wireless ISPs to buy spectrum, said Tom Struble, R Street tech policy manager. With a presidential election next year and partisan disagreements on auction policy, Pai and the Republican-led FCC may not want to “spend too much time starting work this year that they won't have time to finish before the end of next,” Struble told us: “There is basically no low-hanging fruit left in low- and mid-band spectrum, so any further spectrum auctions in these bands will surely take more than a year to design and administer.”
“This commission has been very good at pushing as much spectrum out into the market as quickly as possible,” said Doug Brake, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy. “A lot of the initial options either had been in development for some time, or were relatively greenfield high-band options. The fact that we are likely looking at three significant auctions for the next year is impressive, but now comes the hard work of transitioning the next wave of spectrum.” Formally "identifying a repurposing of the C-band as under the [Communications Act] 309(j) process would signal that we can rule out a private auction,” he said: “I’m not sure the commission is ready to make that call.”
Secondary markets are another opportunity, Struble said. Under Pai, “the FCC has worked hard to streamline and improve access to the secondary market for spectrum,” he said: “AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all obtained their early 5G spectrum holdings via the secondary market, and I suspect we will see more of these deals going forward.”
“We certainly hope to see a public auction of C-band spectrum before the end of 2020,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America: “That would be the most consequential auction of the Pai era. The FCC has the authority to do a traditional clock auction.”
Competitive carriers need more spectrum, emailed Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “One area of particular interest to CCA members right now is mid-band spectrum, particularly the C-band, which provides some real opportunities to deploy next-generation technologies, including in rural areas.” Berry noted his group’s work with America’s Communications Association and Charter Communications on a C-band plan. “It’s absolutely critical that the FCC add another auction to its calendar for the C-band spectrum,” he said: “It is quickly becoming clear that a majority of industry, carriers, OEMs, content providers and FCC commissioners think that at least 300 MHz or more of C-band spectrum should be cleared, and the fairest way to do so is through an FCC-led public auction.”
“Looking at the list and times scheduled for the auctions by the OEA, it reinforces my position that some form of private transaction, subject to FCC oversight, would best enhance overall consumer welfare,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. The C-Band Alliance that has a different proposal didn’t comment.