Wireless Spectrum Auctions

The FCC sees 6 GHz as critical to the future of Wi-Fi and unlicensed, said Chairman Ajit Pai at the Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles Tuesday. The band will provide “huge 160 MHz channels that could be used for unlicensed innovation, the likes of which we only conceive now,” said Pai, interviewed by CTIA President Meredith Baker. The FCC is looking for “an accommodation” for public safety, business and other users of the band, he said.

With the C-Band Alliance proposal gaining ground, some continue to push for a more traditional FCC auction. “Handing over to private parties the management of critical spectrum with an uncertain return to taxpayers is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with Congress’s instructions to the Commission in Section 309 of the Communications Act, and risks running afoul of any number of procedural and substantive requirements,” the Competitive Carriers Association filed, posted Friday in docket 18-122: “A public auction would be on much more solid legal footing, and is also consistent with sound spectrum policy.” Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, opposed a private auction in a meeting with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “A private auction or sale would willfully ignore Congressional intent and precedent,” Calabrese said: “The Commission has no legal authority to authorize, let alone oversee, a private auction.”

Many questions remain about the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band and how many carriers will bid in June’s auction of priority access licenses, industry officials said. FCC officials remain optimistic. One wild card is the regulator's looking at a private C-band auction before the PALs auction, which could siphon interest in the shared band (see 1910100052).

Ericsson officials are optimistic about the eventual success of their lobbying Congress on the vendor's proposal for legislation that would require the FCC clear and auction the upper part of the 6 GHz band for exclusive-use licenses, while allocating the lower portion for unlicensed. Other participants in the debate believe such a bill has little chance of passing (see 1910090051). Such legislation would diverge from the direction of the FCC's current 6 GHz NPRM, which looks at opening 1,200 MHz of spectrum in the band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 1810230038). Ericsson’s proposed legislation appears to mirror proposals to the FCC by other wireless industry stakeholders (see 1902190005), though the company is pursuing legislation alone.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose a private auction of the C band, along the lines of what was proposed by the C-Band Alliance, for a vote at the Dec. 12 commissioners’ meeting, said industry officials. The order would provide some 300 MHz for 5G through private auction in 2020's first half. The FCC would likely allow no combinatorial bidding and sell all the spectrum in one auction, or possibly two, as long as there's certainty on timing of the second, the officials said. The proposal also calls for partial economic area licenses, as sought by CBA.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said emphatically at a 5G Americas event Wednesday the U.S. will win the race to 5G and is easily beating China. Carr said the U.S. focus on high band spectrum and its free market system give the U.S. major advantages over China, where government, not the market, dictates how networks are built. “I bet on us,” he said.

Some wireless industry stakeholders in the debate over allocating the 6 GHz band have been lobbying to convince lawmakers to file and advance legislation requiring the FCC move forward with a plan that allows for licensed and unlicensed use of those frequencies, lobbyists told us. Such legislation would diverge from the direction of the FCC's current 6 GHz NPRM, which looks at opening 1,200 megahertz of spectrum in the band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 1810230038).

Areas of wide agreement among C-band users, satellite operators and other stakeholders are emerging, and with them issues that need resolution before the FCC acts or through an eventual order, experts and a policymaker said Tuesday. All agree that some frequencies will be repurposed for 5G, said FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. "There is a broad consensus on at least a couple of points," said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden: Spectrum will be repurposed, content delivery using the satellite band should be protected, and "end users should be held harmless."

Pursue granularity and accuracy of broadband mapping data so consumers aren't trapped in broadband deserts when government funding is unavailable in areas deemed served, NTCA replied on FCC digital opportunity data collection (see 1909240005). Commenters differed on a latency-reporting obligation and most opposed collecting prices. DODC replies posted through Tuesday in docket 19-195.

The FCC said 39 companies filed short-form applications to bid in the auction of high-band spectrum in the upper 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands, which starts Dec. 10. Among those with complete applications are T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular and numerous smaller carriers, including Blue Ridge Wireless, East Kentucky Network, Horry Telephone Co-op and Alaska Wireless Network. The FCC said 10 companies filed short-form applications deemed incomplete. They include Docomo Pacific, Nsight Spectrum, Union Telephone Company, Windstream Services and Zebra Microsystems. The Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless Bureau released the public notice Monday. Those filing incomplete applications have until Oct. 22 to address deficiencies. Upfront payments are due that same day. In the initial high-band auctions, Verizon, U.S. Cellular and T-Mobile were the big bidders in the 28 GHz auction, AT&T and T-Mobile in the 24 GHz auction (see 1906030063).