CTIA Clashes With Tribes Over Tribal Priority Window
In comments posted Tuesday about competitive bidding procedures for the upcoming AWS-3 auction, CTIA opposed a tribal window that could allow tribes to obtain spectrum to serve some of the least connected communities in the U.S. The tribes pushed back firmly in their filings. Other commenters called for rules that would give smaller providers a better chance to succeed in the auction, which will offer licenses returned to the FCC by affiliates of Dish Network in 2023 and unsold licenses from the initial AWS-3 auction 10 years ago (see 2501230041). Comments were due Monday in docket 25-70 (see 2503110061).
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The FCC should “dismiss calls” for a tribal licensing window in the AWS-3 reauction “and more generally,” CTIA said. Such windows are “statutorily unsound” and “not in the public interest.” In cases where Congress expressly sought “to advance the prospects for discrete categories of entities ‘to participate in the provision of spectrum-based services,’ it authorized the Commission to create opportunities such as bidding preferences in an auction rather than a mechanism like a priority window that would assign licenses without an auction.”
CTIA also noted the importance of AWS-3 spectrum to carriers. “Full-power, exclusive-use AWS-3 spectrum licenses have been critical to the advancement of wireless services” in the U.S. and “play a significant role in bringing LTE and 5G to consumers.”
Several tribal and public interest groups called for a tribal window, noting its success prior to the 2.5 GHz auction. Nothing in the language of the law approving the auction “prevents the FCC from modifying any aspect of the proposed inventory or auction rules, with one explicit exception -- consistency with regulations to protect federal users,” the groups said: “Had Congress intended to restrict the FCC’s discretion further, it would have done so.”
The groups also said a tribal window won’t “impact the timing or revenue” of an auction. The filing was signed by the National Congress of American Indians, the Tribal Digital Village Network, Public Knowledge, X-Labs, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Benton Institute for Internet & Society and New America’s Open Technology Institute.
The Navajo Nation said a tribal window is “consistent with both law and prior FCC policy,” noting that, along with some 300 other tribal governments, it received access to midband spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. “Deployment of the spectrum, made available only because of the special window, allowed Navajo students to continue their education during the COVID-19 lockdowns,” the tribe said: “That spectrum is quickly becoming a vital asset in the Navajo Nation’s goal of closing the digital divide. The AWS-3 spectrum shows similar promise.”
Groups representing smaller carriers urged other tweaks to the proposed rules.
The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to increase the revenue thresholds for small and very small business classifications and introduce a rural service provider credit. The commission’s proposed annual revenue thresholds of $55 million for small businesses and $20 million for very small businesses are “drawn from” rules developed 10 years ago and don’t “realistically capture what it means to be a small or very small business in today’s economy,” CCA said.
CCA noted that based on federal calculations, $55 million in 2015 is equivalent to $73 million today. “A carrier with the same number of employees and serving the same number of customers in 2025 as in 2015 may no longer qualify as a small business due to inflation alone, without actually having grown any larger.” The group also urged the FCC increase bidding credit amounts from 15% to 25% for small businesses and from 25% to 50% for very small businesses. “This would help to mitigate the significant barriers to entry small businesses face,” including the “massive capital required to develop and maintain increasingly sophisticated telecom networks.”
Rural bidding credits would “provide small, rural carriers with a more level playing field and thus legitimate opportunity to acquire and build-out wireless licenses in remote and rural markets,” the Rural Wireless Association said. “With a more level playing field, larger licensees and carriers are less likely to be able to hoard licenses, forcing them to acquire only those licenses which they truly need and build out their licenses in a timely manner.”
Rural carriers represented by the Blooston law firm urged the FCC to base its definitions of small and very small carrier on average gross revenue over the past five years. Blooston also supported a commission proposal to offer a bidding credit of 15% to qualifying small businesses and 25% for very small businesses.
The FCC is offering for sale 200 licenses in the 1695-1710, 1755-1780 and 2155-2180 MHz bands. The auction was authorized by the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, with part of the proceeds going to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.