T-Mobile told the FCC it should reject arguments by Dish Network and two Dish-backed designated entities that they should be able to bid a second time on licenses they opted not to buy after being the initial winners in the AWS-3 auction. T-Mobile initially argued against Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless participating in the AWS-3 reauction in late October (see 1511020064). The two DEs responded then, calling the letter an “untimely request for reconsideration” of the Aug. 18 FCC order, which said the conduct of Dish, Northstar and SNR during the AWS-3 auction didn't violate commission rules (see 1511100041). “Having gamed the system once” the two DEs “want the Commission to allow them to do it again,” T-Mobile said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-268. “The Commission should not allow DISH or the DISH DEs to hide behind procedural arguments to avoid the consequences of their attempts to undermine the integrity of the AWS-3 auction.” Instead, the FCC should “discourage similar action by others” by barring Dish and the DEs from participating in the re-auction “and require them to pay an additional 50 percent upfront payment if they choose to participate in the upcoming incentive auction,” T-Mobile said. It responded directly to the subsequent filings by Northstar and SNR. “The DISH DEs fail to provide any substantive reason why the Commission should not take the steps that T-Mobile has recommended to ensure the integrity of its future auctions,” the carrier said. “The far-reaching consequences of DISH and the DISH DEs’ improprieties in the AWS-3 auction process must be addressed.” Dish and SNR said they aren't commenting. Northstar didn't comment by our deadline.
Five G mobile subscriptions will reach 150 million worldwide by 2021, and an increase in mobile video consumption will drive about six times more data traffic volume per smartphone in North America and Europe by the same year, Ericsson said in its 2015 Mobility Report released Tuesday. It projects South Korea, Japan, China and the U.S. will lead the world with the first and fastest 5G subscription uptake, and the new technology will pave the way for new industries in the information and communications technology and IoT spaces. Due to the predicted rise in mobile video consumption, which Ericsson said will make up 70 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2021, data traffic per smartphone in North America will grow from 3.8 GB to 22 GB per month by 2021. Ericsson projects mobile broadband subscriptions will increase worldwide from 3.6 billion in 2015 to 7.7 billion in 2021, and mobile LTE subscriptions will experience a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent in that time. Mainland China will overtake the U.S. by 2021 as the largest LTE market in the world with a predicted 1.2 billion LTE subscriptions, Ericsson said, and Africa will continue to improve connectivity, which will improve opportunities for financial inclusion.
Verizon was potentially wrongly identified by the FCC as “reserve eligible” and able to buy incentive auction spectrum set aside for competitors in as many as 12 markets, T-Mobile said in a letter to the commission posted Tuesday in docket 12-268. The markets include Oklahoma City; Brownsville, Texas; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Bozeman, Montana. Major national carriers are excluded from bidding for the reserve spectrum if they have holdings of 45 MHz or more in a market, which is about one-third of the available low-band spectrum. Verizon is reserve-eligible in 112 of 416 U.S. markets, said a list published by the FCC (see 1510160065).
Wi-Fi advocates continue to have concerns about LTE-unlicensed, said Michael Calabrese of New America’s Open Technology Institute in meetings with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. “Mobile carriers have both the ability and strong incentives to use LTE-U to engage in anti-competitive behavior harmful to consumers, while for the first time being able to charge consumers for the use of unlicensed spectrum,” he said. “Carriers have powerful incentives to use LTE-U to deter mobile market entry by ‘Wi-Fi First’ providers, such as wireline ISPs.”
The FCC should quickly reject NAB arguments that the agency locate one or more vacant channels for unlicensed users in broadband spectrum rather than the UHF band, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a letter to the FCC in docket 15-146. NAB “contrary to evidence in the record, questions the need for wireless broadband spectrum opportunities,” CCA said. “NAB’s proposal contradicts the Spectrum Act, disregards competitive carriers’ dire need for low-band spectrum and the likely robust competition for reserve spectrum, and ignores the agency’s consistent public interest findings regarding the 600 MHz band plan.” NAB and other broadcaster commenters strongly opposed the FCC’s vacant channel proposal in comments at the agency (see 1511020059). NAB warned in Oct. 30 reply comments the proposal would be a windfall for some big companies that want spectrum for free rather than buying it in the TV incentive auction. “The Commission’s reversal of years of decisions regarding the priority of licensed over unlicensed services is not only legally questionable, it also represents picking winners and losers in the marketplace,” NAB said.
Correction: Counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Gigi Sohn was responding to a fellow panelist's comment when she addressed divisiveness at the FCC, which she said used to occur between members of the same political party (see 1511120043).
The Transportation Department could make better use of its time and efforts encouraging LightSquared and the major GPS makers to resolve their disagreements on power levels and on steps GPS manufacturers could take to address overload, LightSquared said in an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 12-340. It included comments LightSquared submitted earlier in the week with the DOT regarding the agency's draft test plan for studying interference between LightSquared's proposed wireless broadband network and GPS devices. LightSquared has been critical of that test plan (see 1510210022). In the latest DOT comments, it said DOT's proposed metric of 1 dB change in noise floor "is misguided because it fails to measure what the expert agency and Congressionally-designated spectrum regulator -- the Federal Communications Commission -- considers when it evaluates 'harmful interference': the ultimate impact of adjacent-band activity on the performance of the device." Arguments that ITU recommendations support such a benchmark are wrong because many recommendations "begin with user-measurable criteria and then derive interference levels," LightSquared said. Some recommendations referring to 1 dB noise floor relate to in-band interference, not adjacent band, and none of them applies the 1 dB specification for adjacent-band signal effects on GPS, it said. No one has shown a strong correlation between device performance and 1 dB desensitization, and even if such correlation existed, LightSquared's proposed testing would show it, it said. LightSquared also rejected GPS Innovation Alliance arguments that the DOT doesn't necessarily need detailed RF front-end information on the devices to be tested, saying it agreed with GPSIA that dwell time should be a component of testing, but it should be at least three minutes.
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya and his boutique venture capital firm Social Capital are looking at coming into the TV incentive auction in a big way, spending as much as $10 billion on 600 MHz spectrum, said a report in Re/code. The new venture, Rama, would use software from one of Palihapitiya's companies, LotusFlare, to help manage and organize a new network, he reportedly said. Preston Padden, former Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition executive director, had a brief response in an email: “WooHoo!” Palihapitiya didn't comment. He's an electrical engineer and partial owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
T-Mobile expects a very successful TV incentive auction, Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said Thursday at a Morgan Stanley financial conference. “There is a dearth of low-band spectrum and there’s a dearth of licensed spectrum, period,” Ray said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in the spectrum.” He predicted it would be difficult for any carrier to pass up the opportunity to buy 600 MHz spectrum if they can. The auction is going to be a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to level the playing field for T-Mobile US versus the other national carriers who have always had low-band spectrum,” said T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter, also speaking at the conference. T-Mobile plans to raise about $6 billion in capital before the auction but could spend as much as $10 billion, he said. Carter also predicted T-Mobile will see relatively affordable spectrum as a result of the FCC's decision to set aside reserve spectrum for competitive carriers in many markets. Peter Ewens, executive vice president-corporate strategy, said T-Mobile will be in the market for additional 700 MHz spectrum right up to the start of the incentive auction quiet period Jan. 28.
The concerns of the unlicensed community about LTE-unlicensed could be addressed if the FCC used authority already on the books, said Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, Thursday in a blog post. Marsh cited Telecom Act Section 333 rules against “willfully or maliciously” interfering with licensed communications. “If this provision were broadly interpreted as applying to licensed and unlicensed services alike, it could provide protection against the very type of apocalyptic results that the Wi-Fi proponents fear,” Marsh wrote. “It could stand for the proposition that, while no existing unlicensed technology is entitled to any specific incumbency protections, no new unlicensed technology will be permitted to do the spectral equivalent of throwing existing users off park benches or flinging rocks at them.” If the FCC adopts that approach, companies deploying LTE-U “would be expected to listen and respond in good faith to co-existence concerns, but they would not be required to adopt specific protocols, achieve standardization in any specific governing body, or remain mired in some endless loop of interference testing before deploying,” she said.