Auctions

Sen John Neely Kennedy (R-LA), the top Senate appropriator overseeing Federal Communications Commission funding, will bring in FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for a hearing Oct 17 to grill him about whether the agency will run its own, likely slower, auction of the 5G airwaves known as the C-band or, as Sen Kennedy fears, allow the satellite companies holding the spectrum to conduct a private sale. “They say we’ve got to do a private deal because it’ll be faster,” said Sen Kennedy. “You ever heard of courts? Duh, you don’t think anybody’s going to file suit over this?

The Federal Communications Commission voted to seek comment on proposed application and bidding procedures for the auction of Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3550-3650 MHz portion of the 3.5 GHz Band. The 3.5 GHz band holds the potential to be prime spectrum for 5G services, and the FCC is planning to auction PALs to increase innovation and investment in this band. Bidding in this auction, which is designated as Auction 105, is scheduled to commence on June 25, 2020. 

USTelecom, which represents large and small incumbent telecommunication companies, including AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink, supported a report that discusses the Federal Communications Commission's upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The report was written by Tony Clark, a former chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission and past president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and Monica Martinez, a former Michigan public services commissioner. A current concern expressed by the authors pertains specifically to the price cap carriers

I’m proud to have launched several Federal Communications Commission initiatives to expand broadband access on Tribal lands, which complement the efforts of our federal partners. One new policy I’m particularly excited about will give Tribes priority access to spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. We removed obsolete restrictions on this band, allowing greater flexibility in how the spectrum can be used. We’re giving rural Indian tribes an exclusive window to obtain this spectrum to serve rural Tribal lands. That’s right.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the FCC Open Meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 26, 2019:

In 2018, we created the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Fund. Today, I shared with my colleagues a draft Order that would finalize Stage 2 of the Funds, allocating about $950 million to improve, expand, and harden broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. We will be voting on this draft Order at the FCC’s monthly meeting on Sept 26.

The power of 5G wireless depends on the use of millimeter wave (mmWave) bands to deliver larger gigabit capacities. Some 5G deployments will be in the sub-6 GHz band, specifically the 3.65 GHz band in the US with a total of 150 MHz of available spectrum, but the broadband industry is shifting its attention to frequencies of 24 GHz and more. These higher-frequency mmWave bands have GHz of spectrum available to generate gigabit connectivity and accommodate 5G services.

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly. 

The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) is lending some support to the proposal by ACA Connects and others to free up at least 370 MHz of C-band spectrum for fixed wireless while providing a pathway to migrating the program delivery, for which that spectrum is used, to fiber delivery. Currently, the C-band satellite is used by cable operators and broadcasters to receive network programming and get remote video back to the studio. In comments on the Federal Communications Commission's proposed freeing up of the C-band for 5G, and specifically, ACA Connects' et al.'s plan for how to do