Carrier Fight for Delay of H-Block Auction Rules
Wireless carriers are meeting with all 5 FCC comrs. or their staff in an effort to delay consideration of a proposed H-block auction. They're getting together before Thurs. evening, when the item is expected to be placed on the sunshine agenda, cutting off further lobbying. But carriers say the odds are the FCC will schedule a vote as planned at the Sept. 9 meeting.
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The carriers are increasingly concerned that the FCC appears to be considering a nationwide H-block license that would be of particular interest to Nextel, which stands to get the adjacent G-block as part of the 800 MHz rebanding plan, sources said Mon. FCC is expected to broach the possibility of a nationwide license in its proposed service rules. “They're pushing very hard to stop it from going forward,” said a regulatory attorney, who hasn’t been lobbying on the issue: “I'm not sure it’s going to work, especially if the FCC does what it says they're planning, which is something that’s very broad, very neutral. One of the most difficult things to stop at the FCC is a very broad and open notice of proposed rulemaking.”
“It’s an uphill battle to say the least,” conceded a carrier source who has been asking the FCC to delay the item. “From [the FCC’s] perspective, they recognize there are potential interference concerns, but they think they can deal with it in service rules,” the source said. “What we're saying is before you make a final cut on the allocation you should do more testing.”
CTIA filed an ex parte Mon., based on a meeting Fri. with Comr. Abernathy in which the association called for delay in allocation of the spectrum prior to testing of potential interference to existing PCS licensees. CTIA said it had concerns about out-of-band emissions and in- band overload. The group also said it has discussed interference testing by a 3rd party with the Office of Engineering & Technology, and that testing may reveal other problems.
“If required safeguards would make the H Block undesirable for PCS-type services, the Commission should consider use of the band for low-power unlicensed devices or licensed services that will not cause harmful interference to PCS,” the association said.
The FCC can safely auction H-block spectrum, Nextel countered in an ex parte filing Mon. Nextel fired a shot at CTIA, to which it belongs. “Rather than allow the spectrum-rich incumbents at CTIA to keep competition at bay, the Commission should move spectrum to market and accommodate the burgeoning demand for PCS,” Nextel said. Nextel said that while it agrees “reasonable service rules” are needed to protect incumbents “any limits must rely on a rational, fact-based standard consistent with the Commission’s longstanding practices for protecting the PCS bands.”
Some carrier lobbyists have been reminding the FCC of the dangers of scheduling an auction hastily, with overly restrictive controls. They have cited in particular the Wireless Communication Services (WCS) auction, held in 1997. A tough out-of-band emission limit resulted in an auction with few bidders. The Congressional Budget Office predicted the auction would bring in $2 billion, it raised $13 million. One bidder bought a license to serve 4 states for $4.
A carrier source noted that in taking the steps of reallocating spectrum and proposing service rules, the FCC stops well short of scheduling an auction. “We're a far ways away from an auction,” the source said. “The Commission can craft a rule to ask should we auction the spectrum or not auction it. If down the road interference was [determined to be] a big problem, they could decide not to assign it by auction.”