FCC Sides with PCIA on When Licensee Picks a Clearinghouse
The FCC sided with PCIA over CTIA in a fight over how advanced wireless services (AWS) auction winners will pick a clearinghouse to oversee cost-sharing as new licensees move incumbents out of the 2.1 GHz band. The Commission decided last year to let both groups help clear spectrum bought in the 2006 auction, but the groups clashed over the details.
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A key issue before the FCC was when a licensee picks a clearinghouse. CTIA said a licensee should make that decision only after paying what it owes and becoming eligible for reimbursement. PCIA said a licensee should be able to decide earlier, when subject to the FCC cost sharing plan.
The Wireless Bureau sided with PCIA on the timing of that decision as expressed in the order, signed by Bureau Chief Fred Campbell. “Regarding PCIA’s request to clarify that participants select their clearinghouse by filing site notices, we agree that each stakeholder should have a choice of which clearinghouse to use -- independent of other filers’ choices relative to a given relocation,” the order said.
“We welcome the FCC’s order and look forward to working with new and incumbent licensees on facilitating the relocation process,” CTIA said in a statement: “We see nothing in the order that will prevent us from providing superior clearinghouse services.”
“We're eager to get the work underway,” Mike Fitch, PCIA pres., told media Fri. “Our general reaction to the order is that we're pleased that the Commission, in agreement with our position, has decided that here needs to be maximum choice for the participants in the cost sharing process and has adopted an order that would permit that.”
The order gives CTIA and PCIA 10 days to agree on details on data exchange. “We will have our AWSclearinghouse.com website up at the end of that period,” Fitch said: “It will be cutting edge, new and updated technology as we've been speaking to the Commission about… and will really be a tremendous step forward from what we've been able to do in the past.”