T-Mobile Reports Progress in Clearing AWS Spectrum
The Department of Defense is making considerable progress in relocating department licensees from spectrum that the FCC sold last year in the advanced wireless services (AWS) auction, T-Mobile said in a statement released late Monday. DoD is a major incumbent in the AWS spectrum, though 11 other agencies also must be cleared.
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T-Mobile to date has cleared some major markets, including New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, sources said Tuesday. T-Mobile was the top bidder in the auction, with bids of more than $4 billion taking in all of the nation’s major markets. But T-Mobile’s plans to use the spectrum as it builds out its network have been complicated by the slow pace of clearing the 1710 to 1755 MHz band of government users, moving them to other frequencies at the expense of the carriers that will use the spectrum.
Last summer, DoD announced it was opening a secure interactive portal for companies that bought AWS spectrum to submit data to the FCC. The data are reviewed by DoD analysts, providing information the department needs to relocate its licensees. The portal is maintained by the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Defense Spectrum Organization. Other agencies are making use of the data collected by DoD.
“With the use of an interactive Web-based portal for AWS licenses, DoD recently announced that key markets including the New York City metropolitan area are ‘clear’ of any defense department radio systems that encumber the 1710-1755 MHz frequency band,” T-Mobile said. “This is a major milestone accomplishment toward facilitating the use of AWS spectrum to enable T-Mobile and others to deliver third- generation wireless services and benefits to consumers.”
T-Mobile has devoted considerable time and resources to clearing the spectrum but has had little to say in public about the process as it works with DoD, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and other key agencies. Last summer, top Democrats and Republicans on the House Commerce Committee wrote a letter to the administration complaining about how slowly the spectrum is being freed.