Fight Over 5G Airwaves Rev Up

Speculation is at a fever pitch surrounding Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s pending decision on how to sell the 5G-friendly airwaves in the so-called C-band, with many suspecting the FCC may take up an item on the matter at its Dec. 12 meeting. The satellite operators holding the airwaves prefer a private sale, which they say would be the fastest way to repurpose the spectrum, and their three-member C-Band Alliance offered a revised plan to do so on Nov 8. The group a day earlier sought to counter in a letter to lawmakers what they saw as misinformation raised in a House Commerce Committee hearing.

The C-Band Alliance has conducted a number of White House meetings while advocating for its proposal. That could help counter efforts to get the issue on Trump’s radar from Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a vocal critic of the private-auction plan. He prefers an FCC-run sale. Sen Kennedy is planning a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the issue featuring FCC auction staffers. Meanwhile, Eutelsat, a former member of the satellite alliance, has broken with its former cohorts and is now telling the FCC that the commission “should closely oversee and control the auction of this spectrum to ensure a fair, transparent, equitable, and impartial auction and proceeds distribution process.” Wireless carriers are clamoring for this mid-band spectrum, which puts additional pressure on Chairman Pai. The need has spurred Verizon to back the private sale proposal and may be a motivating factor for some lawmakers eyeing the process. “If we don’t want China and South Korea to win the race to 5G — and seize the economic benefits 5G will bring — we need to substantially increase the amount of mid-band spectrum available to US companies quickly,” said Sen. John Thune (R-SD).