CBA Under Pressure to Provide More Details on Private Auction
The C-Band Alliance faces pressure to provide an update on its revised proposal to make as much as 300 MHz available for 5G. Industry officials said an FCC filing could come soon, especially with a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the band scheduled Tuesday (see 1910220070). If commissioners are to vote on an order on Dec. 12, as expected, Chairman Ajit Pai would have to circulate an order in less than a month. A CBA update could still come before Tuesday’s hearing, industry officials said. CBA didn't comment Friday.
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Commissioner Geoffrey Starks noted after the FCC meeting Friday the agency doesn’t have “final proposals” from some parties in the C-band proceeding. Starks said he remains concerned about a private auction as proposed by the alliance.
“While we need more spectrum for 5G, the point of a private auction is for those entities that have the most information and the strongest incentives for proper behavior to decide how much, which part, and when spectrum is sold,” said Phoenix Center Chief Economist George Ford. The CBA “desires to repurpose as much spectrum as is presently feasible now and perhaps more later,” he said: “Everyone else is just guessing what that number is and when it’s best to deliver it. These demands on the CBA are reducing the efficiency of the repurposing.” The government shouldn’t put the group in a “box” since that “destroys the efficiency of the entire scheme.”
“It is clear by now that the FCC is set on at least 300 MHz in the C band,” said Roger Entner with Recon Analytics: “The CBA has the choice between providing that amount voluntarily or involuntarily. If CBA cooperates, its chances of having a private auction increase substantially.”
America’s Communications Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman told us a letter the group filed (see 1910220065) last week “speaks directly to the issue.” ACA said CBA’s revised plan “if and when it finally comes, will be catapulted in this proceeding at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute.”
“There is broad consensus that anything less than 300 megahertz or more would be a loss for U.S. leadership in 5G,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association, which with ACA is a supporter of the 5G Plus Plan. That plan “would free up at least 370 megahertz, more than any other proposal, and provides numerous other benefits, including ensuring an FCC-led auction, reimbursing and incentivizing incumbent users, and adding money to the U.S. Treasury,” Berry emailed: “Consumers across the country, in urban and rural areas alike, must have access to robust broadband services, and the best way to achieve this important goal is by maximizing the amount of C-Band spectrum for terrestrial wireless use. Anything less is a missed opportunity.”
Who will run the auction is “the wrong question,” Joan Marsh, AT&T executive vice president-regulatory and state external affairs, blogged Friday: “The focus should instead be on getting the auction format, platform and rules correct. As with any auction, adoption of a fair and transparent auction framework is essential.” Because of its Time Warner affiliates, AT&T is a big user of the C band for content, Marsh noted. “Clearing 300 MHz will likely require the elimination of standard definition video and the universal adoption of more efficient encoding, compression and modulation technologies,” she said. “This process will in turn require new hardware installation and re-configuration of thousands of affiliate reception sites -- installations that may vary in significant detail from provider to provider and even within the various head-ends of a single provider,” she said. AT&T supports a private auction, as long as incumbents are protected and the rules ensure competition, Marsh said.