CTIA supports a public notice by the FCC Wireless Bureau Thursday seeking comment on how to make unassigned licenses in the agency's inventory available for use absent general auction authority (see 2403070062). CTIA appreciates Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s “focus on spectrum auctions as an ‘indispensable’ tool for promoting economic growth and national security,” emailed Scott Bergmann, senior vice president-regulatory affairs. The notice “only underscores the importance of Congress moving rapidly to restore the FCC’s auction authority and create a pipeline of licensed spectrum to ensure our wireless leadership.”
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan Friday called on Congress to restore FCC auction authority. The lapse “creates challenges for the wireless industry and frustrates America’s goals to remain the global wireless leader,” he said. “Competitive carriers must have access to spectrum to meet our nation’s insatiable demand for wireless connectivity, especially as carriers deploy 5G and prepare for 6G services.” Auction authority lapsed a year ago.
The FCC opened a docket Thursday asking how it can make available unassigned licenses in its inventory absent general auction authority. Comments are due April 8, replies April 22, in docket 24-72. The notice comes on the one-year anniversary of the expiration of FCC auction authority. “We are now compelled to ask what we can do with our current unassigned spectrum in order to keep innovation moving ahead in a global market for wireless that is not slowing down,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “I remain hopeful that the FCC’s auction authority will be restored quickly. … The agency stands ready to work with lawmakers to ensure we don’t find ourselves in the same place next year.” Rosenworcel said last year the FCC would consider a remnants auction of returned and unsold spectrum licenses if its auction authority is restored (see 2307280046). The FCC has most often made contested spectrum available through auctions, said the notice by the Wireless Bureau. “The Commission now faces a unique and historic challenge of how to facilitate the deployment of advanced wireless services across the country without using auctions to resolve mutually exclusive applications,” the bureau said. The bureau said it’s “compelled to explore how its existing regulatory tools could be used to provide the public with access to spectrum that would otherwise lie fallow.” The notice asks specifically about three alternatives for providing access: dynamic spectrum sharing techniques, nonexclusive site-based licensing and leasing inventory licenses. “We seek comment on each approach, as well as combinations of approaches … and any other methods that could be used to make Inventory Spectrum available to the public,” said the bureau.
T-Mobile will light up “over the next few days” part of the 2.5 GHz spectrum it won in the 2022 auction after the FCC said the licenses are being released (see 2402270084). Turning on the 2.5 GHz spectrum followed the carrier's multiyear push and required an act of Congress (see 2312190089). T-Mobile plans to auction 800 MHz licenses committed to Dish Wireless after cash-constrained EchoStar decided not to buy the spectrum (see 2403010041), T-Mobile executives said Tuesday at a financial conference.
NTIA is facing increasing pressure from carriers for additional spectrum for full-power licensed use, and from interests favoring a more open-ended approach, especially in the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, as the agency finalizes an implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy, due for release March 14. DOD is defending its systems in the bands targeted by carriers. Meanwhile, there are questions about how much longer Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, will remain at the agency after the implementation plan is released, industry officials told us.
Verizon remains enthusiastic about its choice to invest heavily in C-band spectrum during the 2021 auction, Joe Russo, president-global networks and technology, said at the Scotiabank financial conference Tuesday. Verizon went big in the C-band auction, bidding $45.4 billion, plus $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators (see 2102250046). C-band has “great propagation characteristics,” Russo said. “And the usage of that C-band spectrum has just been exploding as more and more customers get access to it and more and more customers buy our premium plans with premium devices.” C-band also gives Verizon the capacity to offer fixed wireless access, he said. Russo said FWA requires “really good modeling around RF propagation” and “really great capacity management capabilities.” Verizon has focused on both. Moreover, its mobile network remains Verizon's top priority, with FWA possible where it has excess capacity, he said. The average 160 MHz of C-band Verizon has in each market gives the carrier lots of capacity, he said. Russo noted its FWA product offers 300 Mbps service. “When we look at even peak volumes that come out of a consumer's home, even the biggest homes with streaming and gaming and all these kinds of things, customers are using far less than that,” he said. Peak demands for top tier fiber and FWA customers average 100 Mbps or less, he said. Verizon now has more than 3 million FWA customers, with a goal of 5 million-6 million by the end of next year, which means about 350,000 adds per quarter, Russo said. “We're well ahead of that pace.”
The U.S. government will seek dismissal of Vermont National Telephone (VTEL) litigation against Dish Network designated entities (DE) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless over allegations of fraud in the 2015 AWS-3 auction. The U.S. is the relator in the VTEL litigation. DOJ filed a notice of intent to intervene and dismiss Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (docket 1:15-cv-00728). It hasn't said in court filings the reasoning behind its move to get the case dismissed, and didn't comment Monday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2022 reversed the lower court's dismissal of VTEL's False Claims Act suit against the Dish DEs and remanded it to the D.C. District Court (see 2205170026).
The 2023 nationwide launch of EchoStar's Boost Infinite postpaid mobile service has stumbled, CEO Hamid Akhavan said Friday. In an earnings call -- the first since EchoStar acquired Dish Network (see 2401020003) -- Akhavan said the company is looking at assets, including its spectrum holdings, to raise funds to meet a major debt obligation this fall. EchoStar announced Q4 2023 results after the market's close Thursday.
It's unclear how much the FCC’s enhanced competition incentive program (ECIP) will influence the way industry does business, experts said. Commissioners approved ECIP in the summer of 2022. It's officially live as of last month (see 2402150043).
The FCC on Tuesday denied AT&T’s request that the agency not award 2.5 GHz licenses to T-Mobile, and said the licenses will be processed. AT&T challenged the awards in November 2022, noting T-Mobile’s already huge position in the band (see 2211100066). “We find that the grant of T-Mobile’s license application -- subject to its voluntary divestiture commitment in parts of Hawaii that we impose as a condition -- will promote the public interest by facilitating access to and use of the spectrum, particularly in rural areas where this band has been underutilized,” said the opinion and order by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics: “Accordingly, we deny AT&T’s petition to deny and will process T-Mobile’s application consistent with this Order and the Commission’s rules.” T-Mobile dominated the 2022 auction but required action from Congress before obtaining the licenses following expiration a year ago of the FCC’s auction authority (see 2312200061). T-Mobile recently committed to voluntarily divest, “either by sale or spectrum swap,” licenses it holds in two Hawaii markets, the FCC said.