FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he remains hopeful the FCC will soon release an NPRM on sharing the 5.9 GHz band with unlicensed users, at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. “I did not say that I deferred to the Transportation Department on timing, but rather that I was working with DOT,” Pai said: “Those discussions continue and are productive and we hope to make progress in the near future." Pai highlighted the FCC’s three high-band auctions, with the largest to come later this year. Also important, the FCC’s work on the 2.5 GHz band, he said: “This summer, the FCC finally liberalized the rules for the band, allowing more entities to access the spectrum and eliminating unnecessary restrictions.” The FCC continues work on the C band, he said. “I’m optimistic that we will have results to show on this front this fall,” Pai said: “Also, the FCC is studying reallocation of spectrum in the 3.1 to 3.55 GHz band for commercial use, and I hope our federal partners will join us in that effort.” Pai said the work of the upcoming World Radiocommunication meeting will be important. “We need to enable regional and global spectrum harmonization opportunities for all services, including broadcasting, Wi-Fi, mobile technologies, and satellites,” he said: “We need to create international economies of scale, roaming, and interoperability, lowering prices for manufacturers and consumers.” Mid-band spectrum “will effectively serve as catalyst for future wireless services, especially 5G,” FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said at the same event: “While high bands have the capacity and low bands have the coverage, mid bands provide the combination that is needed to realistically deliver the promise of 5G speeds, capacity, and low latency to a large number of Americans, especially those not living in our large cities.” O’Rielly said the C band is the “easiest and most appropriate band identified” for 5G. O’Rielly said he expects a C-band order to be ready soon. “The FCC is near completion of its review process and is finalizing details for its reallocation, which should come later this fall,” he said: “This doesn’t suggest there won’t be some controversy or last-minute details to sort out, but it will mainly involve squabbling over the specifics rather than any fundamental disagreement regarding the premise.” The FCC doesn’t need to run a C band auction itself, he said. If the FCC has to run the auction “we are talking years -- and I mean years -- before completion,” he said: “We can certainly ensure transparency, accountability, fairness, and openness without having to run the auction ourselves.”

Groups differ over how much broadband deployment data the FCC should collect from providers, in what form, and how others should be able to challenge its accuracy. Comments posted through Tuesday on docket 19-195 weighed in on the agency's plans to update its Form 477 broadband mapping reporting requirements (see 1908210008). Parties mostly agree more granular information is needed to ensure USF dollars are allocated properly in upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions (see 1906280059), but some say holding out for detailed location fabrics that attempt to pinpoint every serviceable structure in the nation could slow the program.

Tribal areas still don’t have all the broadband connectivity they need, though improvements are being made, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Monday at the National Tribal Broadband Summit. “Bringing high-speed connectivity to rural Tribal lands can be a game-changer,” Pai said: “It ... enables teleworking, job searches, and even starting an online business. It enables patients to consult with specialists without having to drive hours to the nearest hospital. And it enables students to take advanced math and science classes online, if they aren’t offered at the local school.” The Interior Department reports 73.3 percent of rural non-tribal locations have at least one broadband provider, compared with 46.6 percent of rural tribal locations. Pai emphasized tribal areas can obtain 2.5 GHz education broadband service licenses, under rules approved by commissioners in July (see 1907100054). “Before any commercial auction of this spectrum, Tribes can obtain this spectrum for free,” he said: “This is the first time in the FCC’s history that we have ever given Tribal entities what we call a ‘priority window’ to obtain spectrum for wireless broadband. ... I hope that Tribes will take advantage of it.”

Before the FCC starts issuing funds from its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), it needs to have its improved broadband mapping up and running, said Consolidated Communications CEO Bob Udell Monday in a taping for C-SPAN's The Communicators. Udell, who's also USTelecom chairman, said the shapefiles approach the agency adopted in August (see 1908010007) "is critical" to the next allocation of federal funding. He said Consolidated is intent on expanding its fiber network, and cell towers for 5G will drive some of that. The U.S. is at an "inflection point," akin to when the Rural Electrification Act was adopted, that could advance deployment through public and private investment, he said. Consolidated is among the telecom signatories to an agreement with state attorneys general on commitments to fight illegal robocalls (see 1908220060), and Udell said principles in that agreement are being used to guide its suppliers on criteria to implement secure handling of asserted information using tokens and secure telephone identity revisited caller authentication technology. He said trials of that tech are underway and rollout should be done in 2020. With Consolidated largely serving rural markets, he said 5G is less a competitive threat than an opportunity to provide services to wireless operators. Mobile service isn't a strategy for Consolidated in the foreseeable future like it is for Comcast, Charter and Altice, he said, but the company's considering bidding in the citizens broadband radio service spectrum auction, with that spectrum potentially being useful for private LTE networks to serve, for example, an office park lacking good cell coverage. He said Consolidated doesn't use Huawei equipment. He said it "thwart[s] attacks daily. It's a common factor when you operate communications infrastructure." Udell advocated a national privacy rules framework instead of a piecemeal approach state by state.

A proposed public notice on the 3.5 GHz auction could see questions at the commissioners’ meeting Thursday. Several parties have been at the FCC asking for changes and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks are still reviewing their votes and have questions about how the auction will work in practice, industry and FCC officials said. The most controversial aspect is that the notice would allow bidding in some cases on relatively large cellular market area (CMA) licenses.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 Thursday to advance to the floor its Financial Services FY 2020 budget bill with report language to pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The measure, which the Financial Services Subcommittee cleared Tuesday, would allocate $339 million to the FCC and its Office of Inspector General and $312.3 million to the FTC (see 1909170060). The House-passed equivalent (HR-3351) allocated the FCC the same funding level but gave the FTC $349.7 million -- $37 million more than Senate Appropriations proposes (see 1906260081).

Some Senate Indian Affairs Committee members voiced skepticism Wednesday about the extent of FCC efforts to improve outreach to tribal governments to improve those entities' access to spectrum. The hearing focused on GAO's 2018 findings in its committee-sought study on tribal spectrum access. That report found deficiencies in FCC outreach, and the commission said at the time of the study's November report it would follow through on the recommendations (see 1811140069). Senate Indian Affairs members last year criticized what's seen as deficiencies in FCC practices for determining broadband coverage on tribal lands (see 1810030055).

A planned Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on supply chain security and spectrum legislation is likely to focus on an expected bill aimed at helping smaller carriers address equipment on their networks that may be a security risk (see 1909120003), Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told reporters. The hearing targets legislation “to root-out suspect network equipment nationwide and explore ways to improve coordination and management of spectrum resources to better serve the American people,” said Doyle and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., in a statement. The panel is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. Pallone has been leading work on coming legislation expected to provide funding to rural carriers to remove equipment from Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907220053). House Communications aims to use “regular order” for advancing all of its legislation, “and the first step would be hearings and then markups, so it's reasonable to assume that if we have a hearing, then a markup can't be too far behind,” Doyle said. The hearing is unlikely to touch much on legislation on repurposing spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band for 5G, Doyle said. “We're not there yet” on legislation marrying elements of his own draft bill and the Wireless Investment Now in (Win) 5G Act (HR-4171) from House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif. “I'm for a public auction and getting as much” of the C-band spectrum “sold as we can,” Doyle said.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Even if the C-Band Alliance releases a plan to provide as much as 300 MHz of spectrum for 5G, there’s no guarantee the FCC won’t opt for an alternative, America's Communications Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman told the Competitive Carriers Association conference Wednesday. ACA, along with CCA and Charter Communications, have their own plan (see 1908150042). CCA officials promoted that here (see 1909170023).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Competitive Carriers Association members were asked by the federal government to participate in discussions on supply chain security, carrier officials said Tuesday at CCA’s annual meeting. At the opening breakfast, big issues were 5G and what it will mean to competitive carriers. Huawei was at CCA and had a technical presentation on cybersecurity.