Spectrum

For many, it's been a years-long pipe dream: Ultra-fast, lag-free Internet that comes to your PC or smartphone via satellite instead of a wire into your home. Facebook, Google and even SpaceX have all explored the idea, partly in hopes of selling broadband access to a growing market with enormous potential — the developing world. But now, a former Googler and friend of Elon Musk has beaten them all to the punch, becoming the first to receive permission to actually build a next-generation satellite Internet service that targets US customers. If it takes off, the project could benefit Americans nationwide by providing broadband anywhere in the United States, particularly in rural areas where it can be difficult to provide fast Internet connections using traditional ground-based cables.

At the heart of Greg Wyler's new network are a fleet of 720 satellites, all orbiting the earth at an altitude of roughly 745 miles. The first satellites would launch next year, and service could start as early as 2019. On June 22, federal regulators voted to give Wyler and his company, OneWeb, approval to use the airwaves that will beam the Internet down to earth.

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission, once a sleepy regulatory backwater, has become a deeply political agency, governed less by the science of radio waves than by pressure from inside-the-Beltway groups. How did we get here? The answer, according to “The Political Spectrum”, a remarkable new book by Clemson University economist Thomas Hazlett, is that the agency began life with a political agenda, one that continues to override its technical experts.

With the skill of a TV detective, Hazlett reveals how the undefined “public interest” standard has proven itself a potent and malleable political weapon. As new information technologies are invented — from radio and TV to cable, satellite, cellular and now broadband — the FCC has wielded its power both intentionally and recklessly to benefit a changing cast of favored industries, restricting competition and all but the most mainstream content.

[Larry Downes is a project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy]

[Commentary] In order for us to expand prosperity and extend economic opportunity to more Americans, we must remain on the cutting edge. This means that government at all levels must focus on removing barriers to innovation and ensuring that technological advances aren’t strangled by bureaucratic red tape.

For starters, we’re taking aggressive action to speed the roll-out of next-generation wireless networks. But to get to the 5G future that will make the Internet of Things fully possible, we’ll need much more infrastructure than what today’s networks demand. If America is to lead the world in 5G, we need to modernize our regulations so that infrastructure can be deployed promptly and at scale. Another Federal Communications Commission priority has been making the agency more agile and responsive.

The Federal Communications Commission took action to support the deployment of a nationwide network for use by first responders. The decision, consistent with duties entrusted to the FCC by Congress, will help ensure that state-built portions of the network are interoperable with the core network so that public safety officials can communicate seamlessly with each other during emergencies.

The FCC established the standards and procedures it will use to review state plans. The decision addresses:

• The timeline for states to provide notification of their opt-out decisions and file plans with the FCC;
• Information states should include in their plans to demonstrate compliance with the statutory criteria for interoperability with FirstNet’s network;
• Some of the technical criteria and standards that the FCC will use in evaluating state plans;
• The FCC’s review process, including participation by interested parties, treatment of confidential information, and the timing of FCC action; and
• The FCC’s process for documenting its decisions to approve or disapprove state plans.

In addition, in light of recent filings by FirstNet in the docket, the Report and Order directs the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to issue a Public Notice seeking comment on one remaining element of the FCC’s review standard, after which the FCC will issue an order on that element.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) in a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, urged the agency to find ways to better utilize spectrum in the mid-band range for commercial use.

Chairman Thune’s letter, sent amidst the Trump administration’s focus on tech policy this week, stresses the need to modernize spectrum policy to keep pace with innovation as the nation moves toward a 5G world: “While the U.S. has pushed ahead with efforts to free new spectrum at both low and high frequencies, we lag behind other countries in ‘mid-band spectrum’ - the range of frequencies between 3GHz and 7 GHz,” wrote Thune to Pai. “Europe, China, Japan, and South Korea are all moving ahead to allocate hundreds of megahertz of mid-band spectrum, for licensed and unlicensed uses, in anticipation of both new Internet of Things applications as well as rising demand for mobile broadband that can be met with small cell deployments.” To bolster development of next generation wireless services, Chairman Thune re-introduced the bipartisan MOBILE NOW Act in January 2017 that would help free up large swaths of spectrum for commercial use by 2020.

Members of the new Broadband Access Coalition called on the Federal Communications Commission to authorize a new, licensed, point-to-multipoint (P2MP) fixed wireless service in the underutilized 3700 - 4200 MHz spectrum band used primarily by fixed satellite services. The proposed licensing scheme and operating rules enable gigabit and near-gigabit broadband service in rural and underserved areas, and promote competition for broadband delivery among various technologies and licensees.

A broad-based coalition of nonprofit groups [including the Benton Foundation] filed a letter calling on the Federal Communications Commission to reject a proposal from the cellular industry, filed by CTIA on June 16, to re-open and revise the rules finalized more than a year ago for a new Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) that opens a large frequency band of unused Navy spectrum for small area, high-capacity broadband innovation. The coalition represents consumers, public institutions and small business users of broadband, and includes the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, Next Century Cities, Engine, the R Street Institute, the American Library Association and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. The coalition asks the FCC to instead move rapidly to complete implementation of this historic innovation in spectrum policy, which opens unused military spectrum for sharing with Priority Access Licenses that are available for small areas (census tracts) and short terms, thereby making them more useful and affordable to smaller operators and to venues for indoor use.

T-Mobile said the Federal Communications Commission has granted the spectrum licenses it successfully bid on in the broadcast incentive auction, which means it can start planning how to use it. The company has already signaled it would like to start lighting up some of that new mobile wireless broadband spectrum as early as the end of 2017, with testing beginning this summer.

"With the spectrum transfer complete, the real fun begins. Despite the cries from skeptics, T-Mobile has already kicked off deployment activities and will see the first sites ready for testing this summer," the company said. "This timeline—well ahead of expectations—sets the stage for commercial operations later this year. That’s when new 600 MHz smartphones from leading smartphone manufacturers are anticipated to arrive. T-Mobile has been working closely with the FCC and broadcasters and expects more than 1 million square miles of 600 MHz spectrum the Un-carrier owns to be clear and ready for deployment by year end."

The Federal Communications Commission will allow Low-power Televisions (LPTVs) and translators a way to stay on the air if T-Mobile asks them to exit their spectrum before the first special displacement window for seeking new channels opens, likely in early 2018. LPTVs had said T-Mobile contacted some stations about possibly wanting to light up the spectrum they bought in the incentive auction by the end of the year, which they pointed out was before they were going to get a chance to try and find new channels. The LPTVs also threatened to try and block the repack if the FCC did not give them some help. Help, the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau signaled, is on the way.

[Commentary] Ask the usual suspects when the first 3.5 GHz smartphones are expected to hit the market and things get eerily quiet. A projected timeline from the CBRS Alliance showed the organization expects at least one handset to be approved by December 2017. But an alliance spokesperson also noted that such timelines are subject to change. Apparently, Verizon asked Apple for 3.5 GHz CBRS support in the next iPhone. When questioned on the topic, Verizon declined to comment on that or when it expects any handset, iOS or Android, to support 3.5 GHz. Neither Apple nor Samsung chose to comment, although ZTE told FierceWirelessTech that it does not have plans to introduce a phone with the 3.5 GHz CBRS band this year. However, carriers have shown interest in this band in 2018, and ZTE will be working with them on their requirements, according to a company statement. Of course, Qualcomm has announced 3.5 GHz support in the U.S. in the Snapdragon X20 modem. However, it’s not commenting on carrier or OEM roadmaps. Why so much mystery about when handsets are going to support this band when everybody is so excited about the opportunities the 3.5 GHz CBRS band promises?