Spectrum

A Q&A with Matthew Rantanen, director of technology at the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, which runs a wireless network that provides service to 19 tribes near San Diego. He also advocates for policy that will help tribes and said that money is just a baseline. The CARES Act created a $1 billion fund to help tribes build their own networks. It is a good foundational start. But there’s more to be done.

The next big spectrum tug of war will play out in the 12 GHz band, where a broad 500 MHz of spectrum could be available for fixed or mobile use, possibly involving 5G and Wi-Fi. The Federal Communications Commission in Jan adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) about possibly changing the rules for the 12 GHz band that could allow spectrum sharing and other changes. The NPRM is likely to generate a barrage of comments including diverse and, in some cases, mutually exclusive, recommendations.

In Indian Country, the proportion of households with high-speed internet access has consistently lagged behind the rest of the US. There has been some work to improve things, with an influx of federal funding helping some tribes build their own broadband networks. A Federal Communications Commission program is giving tribes across the US wireless-spectrum licenses for free.

T-Mobile and Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (Shentel) settled their dispute over the purchase price of Shentel’s wireless assets, with the final price coming in at $1.95 billion. Shentel was a Sprint affiliate since 1995 and was still using the Sprint brand post-merger. Shentel had about 1.1 million subscribers as of June 30, 2020. Shentel also offers cable and wireline services. T-Mobile and Shentel expect the transaction will close in the second quarter 2021 after satisfying customary closing conditions and obtaining required regulatory approvals.  

Three institutional and strategic problems that President Joe Biden’s Federal Communications Commission will have to resolve:

The Federal Communications Commission has entered into an agreement with the National Science Foundation and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to support NSF’s Spectrum Innovation Initiative.

The two richest men on the planet are sparring in front of federal regulators over the massive satellite internet projects their companies are developing. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter, as his company works to persuade Federal Communications Commission officials that it should allow SpaceX to move some of its Starlink satellites to lower altitudes than originally planned. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has been among companies that have disputed SpaceX’s request, on the grounds that the modification would interfere with other satellites.

Wireless carriers clearly believe their own press about 5G. And they are wagering a huge sum to prove it. The latest auction of wireless spectrum licenses by the Federal Communications Commission ended on January 15 with a total of $80.9 billion.

The Federal Communications Commission denied a request to stay its unanimous decision to authorize Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power terrestrial nationwide network using portions of its licensed spectrum.