The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.
Census tracts are likely to be a battleground in licensing the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, with the CBRS Coalition proposal explicitly including census tract licenses (see 1805100062), experts and insiders told us Friday. A rival plan from CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association involves county-based and metropolitan statistical area licenses (see 1804230064). CTIA and CCA didn't comment Friday. The CBRS Coalition proposal contains a mix of licensing areas for everyone, emailed Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "That is what a compromise is," he said. "It means everyone gets something." Parties who don't think census tracts are usable "don't have to bid on them," he said. That the CBRS Coalition is made up of interests ranging from small mobile carriers to electric co-ops points to the difficulty of getting them all on the same page, so the coalition's proposal was its bottom line, not a starting point for talks, said a Coalition member executive. The FCC might be able to come up with a third position, but that seems unlikely, the executive said, saying it's also unlikely CTIA and CCA can or will modify their position.
Attention to T-Mobile buying Sprint continued at the FCC, on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington Thursday and Friday. The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee plans a June hearing on the deal, said industry officials, who had expected it (see 1804300057). And current and past FCC members' and staffers' views on the deal vary by party, with Democrats wary and Republicans less so.
AT&T apparent ousting of Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn after controversy over the company's hiring of Donald Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen (see 1805090080) isn't going to change how lobbying is practiced in Washington or by AT&T, experts said. Unless other related issues come up, there's no long-term damage to AT&T and "people move on," said professor David Rehr, who teaches legislative advocacy at George Mason University's Scalia Law School and used to be NAB head. He said government relations offices or corporate personnel might be more careful in vetting who interacts with the administration. "Everyone is going to go 'better double-check that person,'" Rehr said.
Satellite earth station operators say as Intelsat, SES and Intel pursue their plan for clearing part of the C-band for potential terrestrial wireless use, one big question is how costs incurred due to changes to those earth stations will be reimbursed. "That's one of the many mysteries of this particular proposal," NPR Vice President-Policy and Representation Mike Riksen told us.
Telesat Canada objections to the C-band user consortium aspect of the Intelsat/Intel/SES band-clearing plan are attempts to ensure a bigger piece of a potential windfall from the band, but they shouldn't disrupt FCC moves toward allowing wireless access to the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, experts told us.
The judge overseeing DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner has a variety of options other than simply blocking or allowing the transaction, and it's not clear what he will do. Multiple trial watchers told us they believe Justice failed to prove the deal would harm competition. There was no consensus on whether U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's opinion -- whatever it is -- will be appealed.
Clearing 100 MHz of C-band spectrum will require modifications to the Intelsat and SES networks, and to their customers' networks, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said in an earnings call Tuesday. He said the modifications will include additional equipment at downlink earth stations, relocating some facilities or changes to the configurations of satellites. He said the company has been lobbying Capitol Hill on the C-band plan, and FCC representatives it's met showed an interest in the proposal. He said satellite has a big potential role in 5G deployment, given the time such services will take to reach remote or rural areas. He said capital expenditures should start tapering down as the company comes to the end of its Epic network deployment, with its Horizons 3e satellite to be launched later this year, and the upcoming replacement of this North American Galaxy satellites to be done by smaller, cheaper satellites. An NPRM on the satellite companies' midband plan is expected by some this summer (see 1804200003).
A big Communications Act overhaul doesn't seem in the cards anytime soon, given the partisan divide in Congress, so smaller bills with bipartisan support like the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act (HR-4986) are probably the future norm, said former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley Tuesday at a Hudson Institute talk. The Wiley Rein co-founder said big, comprehensive communications legislation also isn't likely to be taken up at least until Congress settles the net neutrality issue. Wiley said the Sunshine Act, while well intentioned, has led to commissioners' meetings being scripted affairs and hurt the ability of commissioners to narrow differences and have working relationships. He said the law needs amending -- perhaps by allowing non-decisional meetings -- but the likelihood of that happening is slim "because it sounds like you're against transparency." Commissioner appointments coming from the Hill instead of the president has resulted in people who are highly qualified but often coming in with ties to the Hill and strong political viewpoints, Wiley said. He said FCC and other regulatory agencies have become politicized "little Congresses." He said the drawback of the old appointment process, where the president appointed commissioners from both parties, was too much homogeneity. Building camaraderie among commissioners would be tougher since the partisan divide is stronger, Wiley said. With a couple of exceptions -- like Ronald Reagan pushing the agency on keeping the rule governing TV program financing and syndication and Barack Obama's push on Title II regulation of the internet -- concern about White House influence on the FCC is overstated, Wiley said. Even when the Nixon administration was supposedly pushing the agency to block Washington Post Co. purchase of radio stations, "I never got a call on anything," he said. From a lobbying standpoint, that commissioners feel inclined to put out statements on every item adopted is helpful for knowing the thinking of that member, he said.
The court overseeing DOJ antitrust litigation against AT&T has structural condition options beyond just an injunction stopping the buy of Time Warner, like allowing purchase of only parts of TW, minus Turner, or requiring AT&T divestiture of DirecTV, said Justice antitrust attorney Craig Conrath Monday in U.S. v. AT&T/TW closing arguments. Conrath told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington that defense arguments New AT&T would be structured in ways to preclude undue coordination between its content and distribution arms "ask the court to suspend logic and principles of economics" since businesses do all they can to maximize returns. Besides, Conrath said, such structuring "can change in a heartbeat."