Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he’s uncertain if the 113th Congress, which convenes in January, could pass comprehensive reform of the 1996 Telecom Act, during a Bloomberg event Wednesday. Passing a comprehensive telecom reform bill through regular order hinges on how many Senate seats Republicans pick up in November, and at the moment neither party is projected to attain a super-majority of 60 seats. “Even if the Republicans take over the [Senate] majority, we anticipate they won’t have the numbers … so you will have to have some agreement with some portion of Democrats to get it through regular order,” said Martin, now an attorney at Patton Boggs.
Spectrum policy historically has been viewed as essentially non-political, but that’s changing rapidly. The most recent example is last week’s FCC order that should mean greater use of the wireless communications service band for wireless broadband (CD Oct 17 p1). Industry observers told us that the politicization of spectrum has been all but inevitable, as the world goes wireless.
The Department of Defense understands carriers’ needs for spectrum for wireless broadband, but DOD needs certainty on its own spectrum as well, said Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler at CTIA’s MobileCON show in San Diego Wednesday. That keynote by the DOD deputy chief information officer was a rare appearance by a senior DOD official at a CTIA conference.
The FCC suggested a “reverse clock” auction for broadcast spectrum, as part of the voluntary incentive auction, in a paper by auction experts at Auctionomics and Power Auctions. Like the rulemaking notice on the auction of TV stations’ frequencies, the agency also released the paper this week. Under the proposal, all broadcasters that want to sell their licenses may not be successful in doing so, as the FCC eliminates those who hold out for a higher price. Those that offer to sell but don’t will be subject to relocation. The lead author is auction expert Paul Milgrom, a professor of economics at Stanford University who was a key adviser to the agency on the design of the first spectrum auctions.
The FCC on Friday approved a notice of proposed rulemaking that will establish rules for an incentive auction of broadcast spectrum for wireless broadband, to take place as early as 2014. The NPRM moves the FCC a step closer to what is already the most anticipated auction since the 700 MHz auction four years ago. Commissioner Ajit Pai concurred only on parts of the NPRM, saying the commission leaves too many critical questions unasked.
Legislative experts said minority media groups will have opportunities to advance their legislative and regulatory priorities in 2013, during a panel Wednesday hosted by the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. Tim Johnson, legislative director for Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said next year he expects lawmakers to be active on the issues of video regulation, privacy and cybersecurity. “The business models of video providers suggest you will see a lot of evolution in the business of how video gets transmitted and who pays for it,” Johnson said.
FCC staff targeting to finish work this year on an order letting Dish Network start a terrestrial wireless broadband network (CD Sept 12 p6) aim to protect a block of frequencies directly below part of the company’s network that a February spectrum law allows the commission to auction. So said agency and industry officials of a forthcoming waiver that would let Dish use spectrum it’s now allowed only to use with a network received by devices getting satellite signals. The lower end of the spectrum Dish needs a waiver to use terrestrially sits next to the H block that the agency must auction unless it finds the block would cause harmful interference to PCS spectrum. Wireless Bureau staff are considering whether to require Dish face what would amount in some eyes to a windfall penalty, because the DBS operator bought the spectrum in bankruptcy for far less than its value as a broadband network, so as to ameliorate interference concerns, agency and industry officials told us.
The FCC determined that 52 applicants are qualified to bid in Auction 901, the Mobility Fund Phase I auction, Sept. 27 (http://xrl.us/bnp5q5). Only one applicant, Syringa Wireless, which serves southern Idaho, did not qualify. The agency will do a mock auction on Friday. “A bidder should take advantage of the mock auction to practice taking actions it might wish to take during Auction 901, even if the bidder has previously participated in FCC spectrum auctions,” said the notice, by the Wireless and Wireline bureaus. Under rules for the auction, all bidding is anonymous and bidders must not coordinate or discuss their bids with each other or anyone else, including the press.
Proposed rules by the NTIA on a technical panel and dispute resolution boards mandated by Congress to speed the conversion of federal spectrum to commercial use, and spectrum sharing “will bring needed clarity” to the process, but need to do more to ensure the transition occurs as Congress intended, T-Mobile said in comments at the agency. The rules the NTIA proposed in mid-July would define terminology for the transition regulations, lay out how the transition’s technical panel would work and establish resolution boards to solve transition-related disputes (http://xrl.us/bni6f6). NTIA posted the comments Thursday, a day after the submission deadline. The changes on which NTIA sought comment were part of spectrum bill enacted in February.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday the FCC must establish a “clear timeline” for pending spectrum auctions. Rosenworcel also said more must be done to provide incentives for federal agencies to embrace giving up spectrum for commercial use. “While past efforts to reclaim spectrum from federal users have involved the stick, I think going forward we should explore the carrot,” she said. “Today, the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act provides funding to federal users for relocation when their airwaves are reallocated for commercial use. It also now provides upfront funding for planning. What is missing is a series of incentives. What if we were to financially reward federal authorities for efficient use of their spectrum resource? What if they were able to reclaim a portion of the revenue from the subsequent re-auction of their airwaves? Would they make smarter choices about their missions and the resources they need to accomplish them? It’s an idea worth exploring."