The FCC rejects almost all requests for reconsideration on the service rules for the TV incentive auction, approved by the FCC last May (see 1405160030), in a draft order circulated for commissioner consideration Wednesday, an FCC official said. A few technical changes are proposed in the draft order, but no major changes, the official said. “Procedurally, it’s an important step,” the official said. “It clears the deck” and lets the FCC focus on the auction procedures public notice, the official said. More than 30 parties filed requests for reconsideration and every request is addressed in the order, the official said. Carriers, broadcasters and other parties sought reconsideration of the order.

Simulations run by the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition suggest the FCC can reallocate at least 126 MHz of TV spectrum in New York and Los Angeles in the incentive auction “especially if it adopts the Coalition’s improved pricing formula,” the group said in a series of meetings at the agency Tuesday. “The initial clearing target should reflect this, reallocating as much unimpaired spectrum as possible in those two markets,” said an ex parte filing by the group, posted in docket 14-252. “This approach will maximize the value of spectrum in the forward auction and lead to the most efficient reallocation of spectrum nationwide.” The group argued that broadcasters and carriers broadly oppose dynamic reserve pricing (DRP), as proposed by the FCC. “By continuing to lower prices after a station should be frozen, DRP undermines broadcaster confidence in the integrity of the auction. Necessary impairment of the flexible use spectrum will be unavoidable in a limited number of border markets,” EOBC said. DRP is a “value destroying unnecessary impairment in a penny-wise/pound foolish attempt to save a few Dollars,” the group said.

Representatives of the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service Coalition told FCC officials that the use of TV white spaces devices in spectrum also used by medical devices would cause problems for members. The group “demonstrated that TV White Space devices will create interference to WMTS receivers at the proposed power and distance levels,” the coalition said in a filing in docket 14-165. “Interference incidents would badly disrupt patient care and hospital staffing.” The group met with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, and Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force, among others.

Comcast will offer residential multigigabit broadband service for up to 200,000 customers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in June and expects to expand availability locally over the next several months, it said in a release Thursday. Gigabit Pro is a symmetrical, 2 Gbps service that will be delivered via a fiber-to-the-home solution and will be the fastest residential Internet speed in the country, Comcast said. Earlier this month, it announced Gigabit Pro rollouts in Atlanta, California and Florida, and said it plans to roll out the service to 18 million homes by year end, it said.

Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman promised in a blog post the FCC will do a “thorough and comprehensive” review of all remaining long form applications to buy AWS-3 licenses. The FCC on Wednesday sought comment on license applications from nine bidders in the auction, including eight designated entities (see 1504290039). Among them were the applications by two Dish Network-affiliated DEs. “In parallel, bureau staff will continue to rigorously assess applicants’ compliance with commission rules,” Sherman wrote. “If any petitions to deny are filed, they will be considered as part of our substantive review, he said. "We will consider each application on its own merits and make licensing and any bidding credit decisions according to the specific facts and totality of circumstances in the record.”" The FCC hasn't made any decisions on the applications on which it sought comment, he said. “They're complex and important matters, "and we have a long way to go in our review before we reach final conclusions on all of the applications,"” Sherman said. "While it would be inappropriate to make any predictions or judgments about any particular application, it is certain that staff's review of the applications will be rigorous and methodical. At the end of this process we will issue licenses only to entities that meet our eligibility standards.””

IEEE said a new amendment to its 802.3bm standard for ethernet supports recent advances in optical networking, “enabling migration to higher-density applications, reducing cost and power demand” of 100 Gbps devices and simplified metropolitan services. “Significantly higher Ethernet performance, capacity and reach in optical networking are needed especially inside and among data centers across metropolitan areas, given the ongoing proliferation of smartphones, video-on-demand, cloud computing and other bandwidth-intensive applications such as the Internet of Things,” said Dan Dove, chairman of the IEEE 802.3bm Task Force, in a Wednesday news release.

The FCC Wireless Bureau accepted for filing the long-form applications of nearly a thousand additional winners of AWS-3 licenses, including those by the two designated entities (DEs) used by Dish Network -- Northstar and SNR Wireless -- to buy spectrum at reduced prices. The development doesn't mean the FCC has signed off on the spectrum buys. Petitions to deny the applications are due at the FCC May 11, oppositions May 18. The bureau accepted for filing applications by nine bidders, eight of which claim DE status and eligibility for bidding credits. Dish indirectly captured the second-most spectrum of any bidder in the auction, behind AT&T, but at a discounted price through the two DEs (see 1501300051). Earlier this month, the FCC gave final approval to AWS-3 licenses bought by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and other carriers (see 1504080058). “I expect the Commission to do the necessary due diligence to explore any and all issues as to whether Dish, SNR and Northstar Wireless, as well as any other potential licensees, fully complied with its rules,” FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a written statement. New market entrant SNR “is looking forward to the FCC's review of its applications for licenses that it won in the AWS-3 auction,” the company said in a statement. “SNR, founded and controlled by John Muleta, is poised to become the largest minority controlled spectrum licensee in FCC and US history.” Muleta is former chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau.

The FCC appears increasingly likely to require Dish Network to pay out the extra $3.3 billion it saved during the AWS-3 auction by buying AWS-3 licenses using bidding credits through two designated entities (DEs), industry officials said. The Wireless Bureau has been looking closely at the bidding by SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless, the two DEs working with Dish in the auction, industry sources confirmed. Chairman Tom Wheeler repeatedly has said the FCC would look closely at bidding in the auction (see 1504090053). Other carriers have been at the commission laying out their versions of how the bidding by the DEs allegedly violated rules, most recently Verizon (see 1504270042). Dish has said repeatedly it did no wrong in the auction and its use of the DEs was in keeping with FCC rules. A wireless carrier official said it wouldn't appear to be “in Tom Wheeler’s DNA” to approve the AWS-3 licenses for Dish at the reduced prices. Industry sources said it's within the FCC's power to offer the licenses to Dish at full price. “It's a Solomonic decision by Chairman Wheeler,” said Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. “It makes the taxpayer whole and gives Dish, through its partners, quick access to the spectrum.” The FCC declined to comment.

Verizon updated FCC officials on its allegations that Dish Network manipulated bidding in the AWS-3 auction, said an ex parte filing posted Monday. Dish indirectly captured the second-most spectrum of any player in the auction, behind AT&T, but at a discounted price through designated entities (DEs) Northstar and SNR Wireless (see 1501300051). Verizon officials were accompanied at the meetings described in the filing by Leslie Marx, professor of economics at Duke University, said the filing in docket 14-78. “Dr. Marx concluded that the auction data reveal extensive evidence of collusion by DISH, Northstar and SNR, which violates antitrust law and the Commission’s rules and policies,” Verizon said. “DISH and the DEs frequently bid on the same licenses in the same rounds while other bidders were active, which created the false perception that multiple other parties were interested in those licenses (though did so generally without bidding each other up),” Verizon said. “After competing bidders dropped out, DISH and the DEs avoided bidding against one another. This conduct is indicative of a bidding ring, intended to drive out competitors and then suppress rivalry among the ring members.” The two Dish DEs appeared to divide markets between them, Verizon said. Dish also “colluded with the DEs to exit the auction early, without risk and without penalty,” Verizon said. “It did this by ensuring that, when DISH exited the auction following round 20 when it was the high bidder on several hundred licenses, the DEs topped its previous high bids on virtually all those licenses.” Verizon said its representatives met with Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly, among others. Dish is confident it complied with the law during the auction, a spokesman responded. “Our approach -- which was fully and publicly disclosed ahead of the auction -- was based on DE investment structures that have been approved by the FCC in past wireless spectrum auctions, including structures used by Verizon,” he said. “Participation by small businesses through the DE program helped make the AWS-3 auction, on a gross and net basis, the most successful spectrum auction in FCC history.”

Intel will do what it can to make the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band a success story, the company said in a statement released Friday. The FCC approved the 3.5 GHz order April 17 and it was released last week. “It’s clear that the FCC, NTIA, and Federal Agencies are serious about enabling spectrum sharing with the federal government,” Intel said. “The 3.5 GHz band has been globally harmonized for mobile broadband and is incredibly valuable for improving peak cellular use in major markets, for WLAN use, and for enabling new wireless broadband uses in general. Importantly, the Commission's approach protects incumbent use and includes an innovative sensor-based scheme in a future phase of development which could further enhance spectrum utilization and may provide the key to unlocking other highly desirable bands especially the 5 GHz band."