Auctions
Pai's C-Band Proposal: A Public Auction, and Soon!
On Feb 6, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he has circulated draft rules that would reform the use of the C-band, make a large amount of spectrum available for 5G, and generate significant revenue for the U.S. Treasury through a public auction. It seeks to strike a compromise with the many stakeholders at the table — with billions of dollars at stake. And it gets it all done quickly, to help the U.S. "win the race to 5G." The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its open meeting on February 28.
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for February 2020 Open Meeting
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the February Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Friday, February 28, 2020:
Save the Date
Here's the agenda for the Federal Communications Commission's February open meeting:
C-Band Auction Plan Faces Challenges That May Affect December Start
Even before Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai formally unveiled his plan for a C-band spectrum auction to reassign bandwidth for 5G wireless services, legislative and public interest forces began voicing their opposition to or endorsements for the proposal.
Reactions to FCC C-Band Proposal
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai shared with his fellow Commissioners draft rules that would reform the use of the C-band and make a large amount of spectrum available for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology. The full Commission will vote on this Report and Order on Feb 28, 2020 at the FCC’s Open Meeting.
Summary: Chairman Pai's C-band Proposal
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai shared draft rules that would reform the use of the C-band and make a large amount of spectrum available for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology. The C-band is a 500-megahertz segment of spectrum from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz, which is now mostly used by fixed satellite companies to beam content to video and audio broadcasters, cable systems, and other content distributors. However, satellite companies don’t need the entire C-band to provide the services they are providing today.
FCC Opens Priority Window for Rural Tribes to Access Mid-Band Spectrum
The Federal Communications Commission announced that the Tribal priority window has officially opened for federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Villages to apply for spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. This band—the single largest band of contiguous spectrum below 3 GHz—offers favorable coverage and capacity characteristics for next-generation mobile services, such as 5G. In 2019, the FCC modernized the regulatory framework for this swath of vital mid-band spectrum to make it available for advanced wireless services.
The United States has a real opportunity to lead in the next generation of 5G wireless connectivity, but doing so will require adequate public airwaves be made available to carry all the data. The so-called “C-band”—from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz—is widely seen as an ideal swath of spectrum for the job, as it offers an attractive balance of geographic coverage and capacity for large amounts of data. The global device ecosystem using these frequencies also has real momentum, with 23 countries and counting having allocated them for 5G.
CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker Lobbies FCC on 5G Airwaves
CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker, representing wireless giants like AT&T and Verizon, paid a visit to Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai Pai and FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to lobby them to auction off licenses in the upper portion of the 6 GHz airwaves.
Chairman Pai's Response to Senators on EBS
On Nov 19, 2019, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Ranking Member Tom Udall (D-NM) and Sens Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to give voice to the concerns raised by Tribal communities surrounding the implementation of the Tribal priority window to open up access to Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum on Tribal lands.