Spectrum

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.

In the 2007 700 MHz Second Report and Order, the Commission adopted rules for relicensing of 700 MHz Lower A, B, and E Block, and Upper C Block spectrum that is returned to the Commission’s inventory as a result of licensees’ failure to meet applicable construction requirements. The Commission set forth the overall rules and policies for the relicensing process and delegated authority to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) to implement those rules and policies. To the extent the 700 MHz Second Report and Order and other Commission rules set forth elements of the relicensing process, we cite to those rules, and, by this Public Notice, otherwise seek comment on the Bureau’s proposed approach to the remaining elements of the process, including the respective costs and benefits of the various proposals.

The TV white spaces (TVWS) debate is cranking back up again thanks to a proposal that recommends that the Federal Communications Commision set aside three 6 MHz-wide TVWS channels for unlicensed use in every market across the country. The economic argument for broadband connectivity is undisputed and obvious: Without broadband connectivity, businesses can’t compete, and it’s more difficult for consumers to access critical educational, healthcare and governmental services. Today, approximately 34 million Americans currently lack basic broadband access, according to the FCC—and the majority of them, about 24 million, live in rural areas that simply do not have infrastructure in place to enable it.

To address the gap, strategies for making inexpensive unlicensed spectrum available to ISPs have been a cornerstone of the FCC’s plan to bridge the digital divide. The FCC previously ruled that the 600 MHz duplex gap between 652-663 MHz and Channel 37 would be not be sold to wireless carriers and would be available on an unlicensed basis, once the recent TV spectrum incentive auction was over—given that that broadcasters would be vacating that real estate. The FCC also has an unfinalized notice of proposed rulemaking that would reserve an additional 6 MHz channel in each broadcast market for unlicensed use, at 54-608 MHz. It’s the future of this last band that’s at stake. A bipartisan coalition of 43 Congressional representatives asked the FCC earlier this summer to reserve at least three TV white space channels in the 600 MHz band to support rural broadband deployments—a plan first proposed by Microsoft.

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 National Association of Broadcasters is firing back at a letter from tech executives who wrote the Federal Communications Commission in support of reserving broadcast band channels, so called "white spaces," for unlicensed device use. A group of tech company execs banding together as Voices for Innovation Aug 22 raised their voices in support of a proposal by Microsoft that the FCC reserve channels in the white spaces of the broadcast TV band for unlicensed devices as a way to promote rural broadband deployment. NAB is no fan of the plan, and made that clear in its response to the tech exec letter on TV white spaces. That letter talked up the use of the unlicensed spectrum to get broadband to 34 million more homes. Broadband deployment is a signature issue for the FCC under new chairman Ajit Pai.

A startup that wants to build a mobile data network to fuel the Internet of Things is trying to convince regulators to let it use crucial airwaves. It's the second time the company, now called Ligado Networks, has fought this battle. Its previous iteration, backed by Phil Falcone and called LightSquared, hit a dead-end 5 years ago. Now it's back with a new name, lots of money and well-connected allies as it tries to strike gold with connected devices, which it says it can serve using a combination of satellite airwaves and traditional spectrum — creating a sort of hybrid network. If successful, Ligado could become an important Internet of Things player and produce a big payout for big-name investors like Centerbridge Partners, Fortress Investment Group and J.P. Morgan Chase (the industrial Internet of Things market could be worth $110 billion by 2020, according to estimates).

But Ligado's years-long corporate drama shows the risks involved in making bets on technologies that hinge on regulatory approval. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hasn't tipped his hand, and there are no indications that a decision is imminent. "We have no update to provide that this point. We're studying the issue," he said recently, adding the agency is listening to all stakeholders. But Ligado is on the clock: it was reported earlier in 2017 that the company was working with bankers to explore a possible sale or find another investment.

[Commentary] A new Broadband Access Coalition of internet service providers has joined forces with consumer, schools and health care advocacy groups to petition the Federal Communications Commission to open up the airwaves for spectrum best suited to a new, superfast broadband service for the whole of America.

This new approach does not rely solely on fiber, which is costly and difficult to deploy, but instead harnesses wireless broadband. This technology can be deployed at up to one tenth the cost of laying new fiber cabling to homes, with far fewer disruptions and project delays. It can also bring new superfast Wi-Fi services to areas that have no or little choice over their broadband provider. 94 percent of our internet traffic traverses Wi-Fi and home or business broadband connections – not more expensive cellular airwaves. The coalition’s petition proposes to open up new wireless spectrum for improving broadband services cost-effectively. This spectrum can provide great coverage in underserved rural areas, and can stimulate new competitive Internet Service Providers to enter the market and connect dense suburban areas. Unfortunately, the mobile industry is lobbying to secure this new spectrum band for its own exclusive use. The new wireless approach means consumers no longer have to be tethered to any physical infrastructure. Unlike challenging other traditional utilities, action doesn’t require consumers to overhaul their homes – all they have to do is make their voices heard.

[Fink is the CPO and Co-Founder of Mimosa Networks]