FCC OKs C-Band Auction Order on Party Lines
FCC members OK'd rules for a C-band auction, at their ongoing meeting Friday morning. The vote was along party lines, 3-2.
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The auction of some 280 MHz in 3.7-4.0 GHz, with a 20 MHz guard band, could start later this year. The draft order is here.
Also voted on was a public notice on auction procedures for the satellite spectrum. The agency seeks to have the incumbent operators paid to vacate that swath when bidders purchase it for applications including 5G. That draft PN is here.
This C-band proceeding is one of the most complicated ones he has worked on, said Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale. It's more than incumbents had thought they could give up, said Commissioner Brendan Carr. "You might know that we got it right by the grumbles that we will hear from both sides."
The FCC would "force" auction winners to pay as much as some $10 billion "over and above relocation costs" in this plan, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said. "We pluck that amount out of thin air." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks worries the agency's majority "has overstretched our legal precedent."
"We want satellite operators to vacate the lower portion of the C band quickly," said Chairman Ajit Pai. "To properly align those incentives," there will be the approximately $9.7 billion in incentive payments, he added. Pai noted that carriers, not the agency, would make those payments. He agreed with Stockdale on the proceeding's complexity.