Auctions

The House Communications Subcommittee drilled into the Federal Communications Commission's post-incentive auction repack plan in a hearing that touched on everything from hurricanes and tornados to tall towers, timelines and even the Sinclair/Tribune merger, which actually drew a fair share of time and attention. Most of the ground covered was not new, but there were some key takeaways, which were that both keeping broadcasters on air and serving viewers and freeing up spectrum for deploying and advancing broadband service are important, that how much money and time that will take remain points of debate, and that Congress will likely have to step in, at least on the financial end. Some legislators emphasized the need to hold broadcasters harmless, while others countered that they should not be allowed to do any foot-dragging, noting that wireless carriers had bid $20 billion for the spectrum.

By most accounts, the U.S. broadcast incentive auction was a success. Does that mean it was perfect? No. This was a very complex undertaking. Were lessons learned? Absolutely, and I will discuss that a bit later. But all things considered, the mechanisms designed and put in place worked relatively well. Through the incentive auction, the U.S., on a completely voluntary basis, reallocated broadcast spectrum to mobile use, which will now be used by private commercial providers to offer 4G and 5G broadband networks. In fact, one U.S. winning bidder has already announced that it will initiate 5G in 600 MHz and has already turned on its first 600 MHz LTE system.

On August 4, 2017, the Commission released the Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) Auction Comment Public Notice, seeking comment on detailed proposals for conducting the Phase II reverse auction designated as Auction 903. While many of the pre-auction and bidding procedures and processes proposed for this auction are similar to those used in other Commission auctions, the proposals include some new procedures and processes. To facilitate public input on the proposals, the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force announces that the Wireless Telecommunications and Wireline Competition Bureaus will host a webinar about the proposed auction process on September 11, 2017, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET.

The House Commerce Committee has switched gears and will hold a Sept. 7 hearing on the post-incentive auction repack in its Communications Subcommittee. The committee had planned to hold a high-profile hearing on network neutrality on that date, but sources say that has been indefinitely postponed. Now, the Communications subcommittee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. titled “The Broadcast Incentive Auction: Update on Repacking Opportunities and Challenges.” No witnesses had been set at press time. The repack will be getting in gear this fall, with almost a thousand TV stations having to move to make room for wireless operators in the swaths of broadcast spectrum purchased in the spectrum auction.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit remanded the SNR Wireless v. Federal Communications Commission case to the FCC. Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge Harold Feld said, “We’re extremely pleased that the D.C. Circuit agreed with our analysis that although the FCC had the authority to deny the small business credit, the agency should have given DISH Network, SNR Wireless and Northstar a chance to remedy the problem. As we noted in our amicus brief, the small business credit put licenses in the hands of new competitors and constituted the single largest win of FCC licenses by minority-owned businesses like SNR Wireless and Northstar."

A federal court has upheld the Federal Communications Commission's determination that Dish had de facto control over AWS-3 winning bidders SNR and Northstar.

The FCC denied designated entity (DE) bidding credits to the companies—some $3.3 billion worth—which would have lowered the bid to $10 billion, after which the companies said it could not pay for all of the licenses, paying full price for some and turning back others, which the FCC allowed them to do. "Under the totality of the circumstances, we believe that the FCC acted reasonably and consistently with its Wireless Bureau’s decisions when it held that Dish had de facto control over SNR and Northstar," wrote Judge Cornelia Pillard in the decision, which was rendered by a three-judge panel of Judges Pillard and Janice Rogers Brown and senior Circuit Judge Stephen F. Williams.

But the court also found that the FCC did not give those companies sufficient notice that, if their relationship cost them the credits, the FCC would not give them a change to cure that de facto control.

It may take much longer for wireless carriers to deploy services on their new 600 MHz spectrum than previously thought. Bidders committed more than $19.63 billion for TV broadcasters’ airwaves during the Federal Communications Commission’s incentive auction, which ended last spring, with T-Mobile leading the way by spending $8 billion on 600 MHz licenses.

Operators have repeatedly urged the agency to stick to the 39-month repacking plan it has allotted to reshuffle TV broadcasters’ airwaves for wireless use to avoid interference problems as the spectrum is redeployed. But clearing those airwaves for wireless use may actually take twice that long, Robert Gutman of Guggenheim Equity Research wrote this week, citing a recent report from Inside Towers. “As part of the 600 MHz auction, broadcasters have 39 months to move the antennas needed for the television channel repack. However, Vertical Technology Services (a Maryland provider of tower services) estimates that only 14 crews are qualified for the work,” Gutman said in a note to investors. “As such, Kevin Barber, CEO of Tower King II, believes the repack could take five to seven years. If this estimate is correct, it means the towers may not benefit from the rollout of 600 MHz in the immediate future.”

The Federal Communications Commission has accepted another batch of applications from winning bidders in the forward portion of the broadcast incentive auction. Those are bidders for broadcast spectrum being reclaimed for wireless broadband. The big players' applications have already been accepted and the licenses granted, including the biggest bidder, T-Mobile, but this is the third batch of applications to be accepted, with more to come. Petitions to deny the applications are due by Aug. 21, with oppositions to those petitions due Aug. 28 and replies due Sept. 5. The granted applications are from Bluewater Wireless, Gold Spectrum LLC, James Hulce, James McCotter, Nex-Tech Wireless, Nova Wireless, PBP License Group, Pioneer Telephone Service, Rural Telephone Service, Sagebrush Cellular, SI Wireless, Spectrum Financial Partners, and Tradewinds Wireless Holdings.

The Senate approval by unanimous consent of the (S. 19), a bill they introduced to boost the development of next-generation gigabit wireless broadband services, including 5G, by ensuring more spectrum is made available for commercial use and by reducing the red tape associated with building broadband networks. Elements of :

Making 500 megahertz available: A 2010 executive order set a goal of making available 500 MHz of federal spectrum for private sector use by 2020. The makes that goal the law.
Speeding up 5G infrastructure: Next-generation gigabit wireless services, like 5G, will rely on smaller and more numerous antenna and infrastructure systems than current cellular technology. Federal agencies would have a new obligation to make decisions on applications and permit requests for placing wireless infrastructure on federal property in a timely and reasonable manner.
Spectrum assessments: The bill directs the Federal government to conduct assessments of spectrum in the 3 GHz band and in the millimeter wave frequencies to determine whether authorizing licensed or unlicensed wireless broadband services in those bands is feasible, and if so, which frequencies are best suited for such operations. Frequencies totaling more than 13 gigahertz of bandwidth will be studied, most of which are in the millimeter wave frequencies that will be critical for next-generation wireless networks, including 5G mobile networks.
Dig once: The Act facilitates adoption of safe and efficient “dig once” policies by states. Dig once is the idea that a single conduit through which all broadband wires can be run should be laid in the ground at the same time as other below-ground infrastructure work, like highway construction. Dig once can reduce costs for deployment of broadband infrastructure.
National broadband facilities asset database: The bill creates a central, online inventory of federal government property assets available or appropriate for private-sector deployment of broadband facilities. Such information includes the location of buildings and points of contact for siting applications. State and local governments would be permitted to voluntarily submit information about their assets to the inventory.
Reallocation incentives: The Commerce Department would be directed to issue a report within 18 months on additional legislative or regulatory proposals to incentivize Federal entities to relinquish or share their spectrum with non-federal spectrum users.
Immediate transfer of funds for agencies: The accelerates the relocation of Federal entities by allowing existing Spectrum Relocation Fund balances to be transferred to agencies for transition efforts immediately upon completion of an auction, rather than after the actual receipt by the Fund of auction proceeds. By immediately executing their transition plans, agencies would reduce their timelines to vacate, potentially increasing auction proceeds due to the value of accelerated access to the auctioned bands.

At our meeting on Aug 3, the Commission will vote on a mid-band spectrum Notice of Inquiry. While it provides a great opportunity to point out any frequencies, between 3.7 and 24 GHz, that you think may facilitate wireless broadband services, the main focus is the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz band. Recently, an ad-hoc coalition of equipment manufacturers, wireless providers, and unlicensed users have been discussing ideas on how to open the 3.7 to 4.2 GHz band for licensed mobile services, while protecting or accommodating incumbents. This will provide an excellent opportunity because it is so close to the 3.5 GHz PALs.