FCC 700 MHz Debate Settles Some Questions, Leaves Many Open

The Rural Cellular Assn. (RCA) suggested 3 benchmarks sources believe appear in the further notice of proposed rulemaking: After 3 years, 25% of license areas must be built out; after 5 years, 50%; and after 8 years, 75%. If at the end of a 10-year license areas remain unserved, they would be forfeited by county, according to the RCA proposal.

By far the most contentious issue the FCC staff addressed during intense Wed. negotiations was the variety of band plans and whether to tilt toward one. In the end, the FCC didn’t “tip its hand,” said Adelstein. Instead, the text of the item will propose several band plans, said Commission sources.

Martin strongly favored a band plan pushed by the 4G Coalition of DBS operators and Silicon Valley heavyweights. The plan would make available a 11-MHz paired block and ease creation of a nationwide footprint, which the coalition called necessary to creating a new broadband pipe (CD March 7 p9). “I am surprised that some of my colleagues do not support this approach,” Martin said. Band plans and rules shouldn’t be tailored to the assumption that one business plan or only nationwide players can succeed, Comr. McDowell said: “We must be careful to ensure that we do not overly-tailor our auction rules to fit a particular business plan because there are never any guarantees as to who will participate at auction, or for how long… Are only national companies capable of providing such alternative platforms? What about regional players or local providers? Small town entrepreneurs?”

The FCC will seek comment on whether to allow combinatorial bidding to enable a nationwide footprint, said Wayne Leighton, senior economist in the commercial services division of the FCC’s Wireless Bureau.

The FCC will face critical oversight from Congress on the band plan and other auction rules, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.) said: “I intend to watch the Commission’s implementation of rules for this auction very closely over the next few weeks to ensure that the Commission adheres to the objectives Congress set forth in the law for such auctions.” At a hearing this month (CD April 20 p2), Markey spoke up for new entrants. “Simply throwing more spectrum into the marketplace by selling it to the highest bidder does not, in itself, create the greatest value for consumers. Moreover, absent sufficient competition, the sale of more licenses for additional spectrum does not, in itself, mean innovative new services and gadgets will necessarily arrive for all consumers, in all neighborhoods, or arrive in timely fashion,” he said. Markey likely will comment in a letter to the FCC, said a Hill source.

The FCC nailed down some 700 MHz band service rules. It changed the license term so it ends in Feb. 2019, or 10 years after the DTV transition. When the original service rules were adopted, the FCC set an 8 year term for 700 MHz band licenses, meaning they would have ended in 2017. Power limits will be set using the “power spectrally density model,” an agency spokeswoman said. The FCC also will allow a doubling of power in rural areas subject to a 1 kW per MHz limit. That will “reduce the number of towers necessary to serve consumers and lower the cost of build out,” said Martin.

In 1997, when Congress originally allocated 36 MHz of spectrum to commercial use, the FCC designated 6 MHz as guard bands to protect public safety. It auctioned this spectrum and set up a guard-band manager concept, with the manager to lease the spectrum. Wed.’s decision reversed this, replacing the guard-band manager scheme with the FCC’s secondary market process, said Paul Moon, Wireless Bureau senior attorney.

The FCC’s Wed. action came just shy of a year of Cyren Call shocking the wireless world by proposing to use 30 MHz of commercial spectrum to build a public safety network that it would also rent to commercial uses on a secondary basis (CD April 28/06 p6). “While there has been much progress over the last year, we are neither convinced that an auction is the right structure to provide a solution for first responders, nor that sufficient spectrum is being made available to public safety to support a self-sustaining business case,” said Cyren Call Chmn. Morgan O'Brien. -- Heather Forsgren-Weaver

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While most of the focus of Wed. night’s 700 MHz action centered on band plan proposals for the upcoming auctions, the FCC also narrowed the debate on how to get to a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network. “In a perfect world, our nation’s first responders would already have access to a cutting-edge, customer-built, interoperable and fully funded broadband network that makes use of dedicated public safety spectrum,” said Comr. Copps. The FCC tentatively decided to consolidate public safety’s wideband spectrum allocation in the 700 MHz band. “Only broadband applications consistent with a nationwide interoperability standard should be deployed on a going forward basis,” the FCC tentatively concluded. The FCC will seek comment on power limits and narrowband voice issues in the Canadian border areas, said Jeff Cohen, senior legal counsel in the FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau.