House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., saw positive signs for moving forward on legislation to mandate an FCC-led public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band after all subcommittee Democrats and several Republicans showed a clear preference for such a plan during a Tuesday hearing. The panel also was a forum for castigating the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction of the bandwidth, as expected (see 1910280040). All sides continued to meet with the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052).
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.
Tuesday's House Communications Subcommittee hearing on repurposing spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1910220070) is expected, like other Capitol Hill panels this year, to largely criticize the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction of the bandwidth, communications policy-focused lobbyists said in interviews. House Communications, the Senate Commerce Committee and the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee examined the FCC's C-band proceeding in hearings since May (see 1910170038). The House Communications panel will begin at 10 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. A consortium of major satellite operators affiliated with CBA ahead of the hearing upped what they said their private auction plan would clear, as expected (see 1910250062).
The C-Band Alliance faces pressure to provide an update on its revised proposal to make as much as 300 MHz available for 5G. Industry officials said an FCC filing could come soon, especially with a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the band scheduled Tuesday (see 1910220070). If commissioners are to vote on an order on Dec. 12, as expected, Chairman Ajit Pai would have to circulate an order in less than a month. A CBA update could still come before Tuesday’s hearing, industry officials said. CBA didn't comment Friday.
Comcast's Peacock streaming service launching in April won't try to replicate Netflix and other subscription VOD services, but instead will focus on advertising support and a mix of nonexclusive content, originals and acquired exclusives like The Office, NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke said Thursday on a Q3 call. He said Universal will continue to sell its motion pictures to premium networks like HBO. Q3 revenue was $26.8 billion, flat year over year on pro forma basis, with Comcast having added Sky in Q4 2018. Comcast ended the quarter with 26 million residential broadband subscribers, up 1.2 million; 20.4 million residential video customers, down 560,000; and 9.95 million residential voice customers, down 220,000. Mobile subscribers numbered 1.8 million, up 800,000. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said monthly data usage of its broadband subscribers has more than doubled over the past three years. He said NBC topped prime time ratings for adults ages 18 to 49 for the sixth consecutive 52-week season. He said its NBCUniversal and Sky are starting work on joint production of content and are creating a global news channel. Asked about Comcast interest in the citizens band radio service auction or C-band or millimeter-wave spectrum for its mobile business, Roberts said it "will always be opportunistic" when looking at means of offloading wireless traffic from its Verizon mobile virtual network operator to its own network. Asked when cord-cutting trends might level off, analysts were told the operator's focus is on video profitability and that might mean customers receiving lower-end or promotional video packages could be moved to broadband-only packages instead.
The FCC sees 6 GHz as critical to the future of Wi-Fi and unlicensed, said Chairman Ajit Pai at the Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles Tuesday. The band will provide “huge 160 MHz channels that could be used for unlicensed innovation, the likes of which we only conceive now,” said Pai, interviewed by CTIA President Meredith Baker. The FCC is looking for “an accommodation” for public safety, business and other users of the band, he said.
Many questions remain about the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band and how many carriers will bid in June’s auction of priority access licenses, industry officials said. FCC officials remain optimistic. One wild card is the regulator's looking at a private C-band auction before the PALs auction, which could siphon interest in the shared band (see 1910100052).
With the C-Band Alliance proposal gaining ground, some continue to push for a more traditional FCC auction. “Handing over to private parties the management of critical spectrum with an uncertain return to taxpayers is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with Congress’s instructions to the Commission in Section 309 of the Communications Act, and risks running afoul of any number of procedural and substantive requirements,” the Competitive Carriers Association filed, posted Friday in docket 18-122: “A public auction would be on much more solid legal footing, and is also consistent with sound spectrum policy.” Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, opposed a private auction in a meeting with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “A private auction or sale would willfully ignore Congressional intent and precedent,” Calabrese said: “The Commission has no legal authority to authorize, let alone oversee, a private auction.”
Ericsson officials are optimistic about the eventual success of their lobbying Congress on the vendor's proposal for legislation that would require the FCC clear and auction the upper part of the 6 GHz band for exclusive-use licenses, while allocating the lower portion for unlicensed. Other participants in the debate believe such a bill has little chance of passing (see 1910090051). Such legislation would diverge from the direction of the FCC's current 6 GHz NPRM, which looks at opening 1,200 MHz of spectrum in the band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 1810230038). Ericsson’s proposed legislation appears to mirror proposals to the FCC by other wireless industry stakeholders (see 1902190005), though the company is pursuing legislation alone.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose a private auction of the C band, along the lines of what was proposed by the C-Band Alliance, for a vote at the Dec. 12 commissioners’ meeting, said industry officials. The order would provide some 300 MHz for 5G through private auction in 2020's first half. The FCC would likely allow no combinatorial bidding and sell all the spectrum in one auction, or possibly two, as long as there's certainty on timing of the second, the officials said. The proposal also calls for partial economic area licenses, as sought by CBA.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said emphatically at a 5G Americas event Wednesday the U.S. will win the race to 5G and is easily beating China. Carr said the U.S. focus on high band spectrum and its free market system give the U.S. major advantages over China, where government, not the market, dictates how networks are built. “I bet on us,” he said.