One of the big wireless questions for 2024 is whether Dish Network will succeed as a fourth national wireless provider, New Street’s Blair Levin said in a weekend note to investors. Another is whether another carrier will buy USCellular, he wrote. He added: “There is a question about whether any potential buyers would face a risk of a government rejection, particularly given the views of Democratic antitrust authorities and the results of the last major acquisition to face an FCC review (T-Mobile/Sprint)." Any buyer other than AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon would likely see easy approval, he noted. “Lots of studies are in the pipeline” in the aftermath of the national spectrum strategy, but “these won’t lead to more spectrum coming online before 2025,” Levin said. No resolution appears likely soon on the lower 3 GHz band, but 12 GHz “is the one place” the FCC could authorize a new band for terrestrial use, he said: "Depending on if and how the FCC does it, it could be a boost for DISH.” Levin also predicted Congress could authorize the FCC to sell returned AWS 3 licenses. Congress could authorize a “targeted reauction” without addressing broader DOD concerns “that are blocking efforts to reauthorize spectrum auctions.”
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
Latest spectrum auction news
CTIA and other industry players sought to keep pressure on the Biden administration to make more mid-band spectrum available for 5G and eventually 6G in comments on the implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Others stressed the importance of spectrum sharing. NTIA has not yet posted the comments, which were due Wednesday.
The FCC hasn’t provided much guidance in recent months about where it’s headed on final rules for the 4.9 GHz band, industry officials tracking the band told us. Nearly a year ago, commissioners approved 4-0 a long-awaited order and Further NPRM on the future of the band (see 2301180062), which reversed course from a plan approved during the Trump administration.
The FCC approved Friday a 2022 T-Mobile application to purchase 600 MHz licenses it was leasing from Columbia Capital, dismissing a Dish Network challenge. T-Mobile reported the deal was worth $3.5 billion. Analysts said when T-Mobile filed the application FCC approval was likely, especially since the carrier is already using the frequencies (see 2208090053).
Congress is unlikely to follow up the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) with a near-term agreement on a broader spectrum legislative package, certainly not in time to factor into the upcoming debate over funding the federal government once an existing continuing resolution expires Feb. 2, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. President Joe Biden signed the 5G Sale Act last week (see 2312200061), giving the FCC temporary authority to issue 2.5 GHz band licenses that T-Mobile and others won in a 2022 auction. All sides view the measure as a stopgap, required after months of stalled talks on Capitol Hill for a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s lapsed general auction authority (see 2312040001).
Leaders of the 12 GHz for 5G Coalition told us they expect an order opening use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed-wireless in Q1 2024. The group's leaders had hoped for action by the end of this year, after commissioners approved a Further NPRM in May examining the band's future (see 2309110061).
Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented on an NPRM that seeks to align rules for the 24 GHz band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference four years ago. Carr accused the Biden administration of retreating rather than moving forward on spectrum.
Wireless Infrastructure Association President Patrick Halley praised President Joe Biden Wednesday night for signing the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) (see 2312200061). Yet Halley said he believes it’s “imperative that Congress” follow that stopgap measure with a long-term renewal of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority. The House passed the 5G act measure last week (see 2312110062), giving the FCC authority for 90 days to issue the 2.5 GHz licenses. Lawmakers viewed it as a stopgap measure, required after months of stalled Capitol Hill talks on a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s lapsed general auction authority (see 2312040001). “Anything less” than a “long-term reauthorization” will “continue to hamper the advancement of America’s mobile communications and put us in the competitive backseat against China and other global competitors,” Halley said.
The House was expected to vote as soon as Monday night on the Senate-approved version of the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787), as expected (see 2312060073), amid hopes of salvaging at least incremental progress after months of stalled Capitol Hill talks on a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s general auction authority. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and former commission and State Department officials highlighted during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event the importance of Congress reauthorizing the spectrum auction mandate and reaching a consensus that will allow the U.S. to reclaim a top leadership role in wireless innovation.
Lawmakers are beginning to talk about how to pivot from the House Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) text as Capitol Hill continues digesting findings of DOD's study about the potential effects commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band will have on incumbent military systems (see 2311290001), lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., acknowledges the unpublished DOD study’s findings likely mean lawmakers must forgo authorizing an auction of lower 3 GHz spectrum as part of a near-term compromise package.