Wireless Telecommunications

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. 

Here's the agenda for the Federal Communications Commission's February open meeting:

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. 

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.

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.

The prospect that "third parties [could] undercut...federal enforcement decisions" — such as the pending T-Mobile/Sprint merger — is one of the greatest concerns in the new antitrust environment, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim explained. He reminded people that the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice, and many states approved the merger in 2019. But then attorneys general from 10 states and the District of Columbia sued to prevent the alliance. A decision is still pending.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association said the Federal Communications Commission should not expand its ban of suspect tech identified as a threat to network security beyond participants in the FCC's Universal Service Fund broadband subsidy program. It said applying it to all networks regardless of whether or not the USF funds exceeds the FCC's authority and would duplicate efforts by other agencies. "There is no legal basis for the Commission to move from conditioning eligibility for a program it is statutorily authorized to administer on removal of certain equipment, to simply ban

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested $13.3 million in two, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 1,000 rural households in southeastern Oklahoma. Pine Telephone and Pine Cellular are based in Broken Bow (OK). Pine Telephone will receive a $5.6 million USDA ReConnect program grant. Pine Cellular will receive a $7.7 million ReConnect program grant. Both projects will deploy fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in parts of Pushmataha and McCurtain counties.

Seeking to blunt the dominance by China’s Huawei, the White House is working with US technology companies to create advanced software for next-generation 5G telecommunications networks. The plan would build on efforts by some US telecom and technology companies to agree on common engineering standards that would allow 5G software developers to run code atop machines that come from nearly any hardware manufacturer. That would reduce, if not eliminate, reliance on Huawei equipment. Microsoft, Dell, and AT&T are part of the effort, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said.

The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, in coordination with the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics, opens GN Docket No. 20-32, captioned “Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America.” On December 4, 2019, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his intention to create a 5G Fund, which would make available up to $9 billion in universal service support to deploy advanced 5G mobile wireless service in rural America. All filings related to the 5G Fund should be submitted in GN Docket No. 20-32.