A House Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday appears likely to focus on promoting $7.6 billion in E-rate funding included in Commerce Committee-advanced language to be added to a coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (see 2102120066), plus other measures to improve broadband access during the pandemic. House Commerce Republicans unveiled an alternative broadband policy agenda Tuesday, which largely draws on bills they first filed last summer (see 2102120066).

NCTA and its members urged adopting 3.45-3.55 GHz rules consistent with those in the citizens broadband radio service band, in a call with FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “NCTA noted the successful outcome of the 3.5 GHz CBRS auction, and the role that the service rules for that band played in attracting a diversity of auction participants … and encouraging the widespread deployment of the spectrum,” said Tuesday's posting​​​​​​​ in docket 19-348. Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox and CableLabs participated.

President Claude Aiken and others from the Wireless ISP Association laid out its positions on spectrum bands in a call with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington. In 2.5 GHz, WISPA seeks a “single-round, sealed bid auction.” Move forward with the opening of 5.9 GHz for unlicensed use, WISPA said: “We noted the benefits that consumers are receiving from more than 100 Special Temporary Authority grants to deploy” there. WISPA members are “very interested” in the 4.9 GHz band, said a filing posted Monday in 19-348 and other dockets.

Adopting final service rules for the 12 GHz band will probably take the FCC at least 18 months, with more engineering and other study needed, experts said Monday during an Incompas webinar. Commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 in January (see 2101130067) at the last meeting under then-Chairman Ajit Pai. Experts said comments will help the FCC decide what action to take.

Comcast likely wasn't a big participant in the C-band auction, judging by the money it plans to plow into stock repurchases, analysts said. In a Q4 call Thursday, CEO Brian Roberts didn't directly address the FCC C-band or citizens broadband radio service. He said the company's "capital-light" mobile model, led by mobile virtual network operators, "is the right one for us." The stock closed up 6.6% at $51.60.

The assignment phase of the C-band auction starts Feb. 8, the FCC said Tuesday. Bidders that won at least one generic block of spectrum in a single partial economic area in the clock phase are eligible, not required, to bid in the assignment phase for frequency-specific licensing blocks. Rules prohibiting communications by each party that filed a short-form application apply until the end of the auction, said the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. A mock auction is Feb. 4.

Verizon had mixed results, as the first major carrier to report Q4 Tuesday. One overhang, analysts said, is how much Verizon spent in the FCC C-band auction. Executives couldn’t comment during the FCC quiet period. They expect the TracFone buy to close in the second half of the year. The stock closed 3.2% lower Tuesday at $56.57. AT&T reports Wednesday morning.

Ajit Pai, who leaves the FCC Wednesday, had one of the busiest conclusions to a chairmanship in recent history as he closed out many items. That was deliberate, Pai said in an interview. We’re “sprinting to the finish," he said Friday evening. Pai said all the big things he wanted to do he started in his first three years. “We didn’t want to leave significant items lingering out there for the last year,” he said: “Things can fall through the cracks before you know it.”

The FCC said it will lift the T-band freeze after President Donald Trump signed into law (see 2012280052) the FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill, which includes a repeal of the mandate that the FCC auction the spectrum. “Now that the Commission is no longer required to implement the T-Band Mandate, the rationale for the suspensions no longer exists,” said Tuesday's order by the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus. Within 30 days, bureaus will resume processing such applications for license renewals and “process all other pending T-Band applications, but dismiss without prejudice any pending applications that include a request for waiver of the Suspension Notice,” the order said.

The FCC closed the first stage of the C-band auction Friday at $80.9 billion, not including about $13 billion in additional accelerated clearing payments (see 2101070048). All 5,684 spectrum blocks were sold. The FCC will next release the list of winning bidders. “The winning bidders, at least, perceive … tremendous value in acquiring the C-band spectrum and monetizing it over the course of the coming years, through the deployment of 5G services within an accelerated time frame,” Chairman Ajit Pai said at an American Enterprise Institute event Friday. Asked whether the costs will cause difficulties for carriers in building out their networks, Pai said that’s “a very good question” and deferred “to economists and those in finance” who monitor carrier balance sheets. Pai said offering the band through a standard spectrum auction was the right course. “After months of back-and-forth with stakeholders, we had serious concerns about the plans that were submitted for the private sale and whether it would be run competently,” he said: “In contrast, the FCC had a quarter-century track record of performing successful and transparent spectrum auctions.” S&P Global Ratings said the auction “will have a significant effect on balance sheets for U.S. wireless operators.” The nationwide average price per MHz/POP across all categories was 94.2 cents, BitPath Chief Operating Officer Sasha Javid blogged Friday. That's about 4.3 times the 21.7 cent price per MHz/POP for the spectrum sold in the citizens broadband service auction, he said. The most expensive license was for Red Oak, Iowa, which closed at $2.835 MHz/POP, and the most expensive top 20 market was San Diego, at $1.773, he said. The auction offered 280 MHz, rather than the 65 MHz in the AWS-3 auction. “This is why total gross proceeds in this C-band auction skyrocketed past the $44 billion raised in the AWS-3 auction to become the highest gross auction of all time,” Javid said. “We have heard the term ‘beachfront’ used to describe various bands over the last several years," wrote Wiley’s Ari Meltzer. "The market has spoken, and it has confirmed that mid-band has the view and the amenities.” The auction “showcased the critical need of the mobile wireless industry to have access to an important portfolio of spectrum to support connectivity for citizens, the economy, and U.S. technology leadership,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas. “This record-breaking spectrum auction demonstrates the wireless industry’s commitment to leading the emerging 5G economy and underscores the importance of developing a robust pipeline of spectrum auctions,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker.