Bidirectional sharing, a top Pentagon policy priority, got some support in comments on an FCC public notice, launched in response to a requirement of Ray Baum's Act (see 1905010205). DOD sees bidirectional sharing as important to its future as it gives up more spectrum (see 1806250049). The department's concept is that under bidirectional sharing, federal agencies could use spectrum in remote areas that otherwise is going unused. Carriers and other wireless groups say any such sharing must be voluntary. Comments were due Friday in docket 19-128 and posted through Monday.
Bidding has concluded in Auction 102, the FCC’s sale of 24 GHz spectrum for 5G, said an FCC release Tuesday. Along with Auction 101 -- the 28 GHz auction completed in January -- the FCC “has now completed its first set of high-band airwaves auctions to make spectrum available for 5G wireless, Internet of Things, and other advanced spectrum-based services,” the announcement said. “The successful conclusion of our nation’s first two high-band flexible, mobile-use spectrum auctions is a critical step,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in the release. Bidding in Auction 102 ended at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and raised more than $2 billion in gross bids, it said, adding that bidders won 2,904 of the 2,909 licenses on offer. Auction 101 raised $702.6 million in gross bids with bidders winning 2,965 of the 3,072 licenses offered. A public notice with detailed results for Auction 102 will be available “in a few days” the release said. Auction 101’s results have remained nonpublic but a PN on them will also be released “soon,” the announcement said. Auction 103, which involves spectrum from the upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz bands, will start Dec. 10.
Officials in President Donald Trump's administration and the FCC spoke optimistically about the U.S. path forward on rural broadband and spectrum policy during a Monday NTCA event, citing 2018 successes and actions slated for this year. The FCC's plans to follow up the USF Connect America Fund with a new $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (see 1904120065) received some attention at the event, but more focus was on upcoming spectrum auctions and ways to increase rural broadband deployments.
That the US is losing on 5G “just is not true,” said Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, at a CTIA 5G summit Thursday. “Basically, we’re winning." Kudlow said he met with President Donald Trump about 5G Wednesday. CTIA President Meredith Baker said the C band (see 1904040076) offers the best opportunity for making more mid-band spectrum available.
Though it's not clear how much midband spectrum 5G will require, the U.S. is clearly lagging compared with midband availability in other nations, said CTIA President Meredith Baker at a Media Institute event Wednesday. When we asked her what's needed at minimum, she said the possibility of 180 MHz from the C band, as proposed by the C-Band Alliance (CBA), and 70 MHz from the 3.5 GHz band would still leave the U.S. 50 MHz shy of the global average of what other nations have dedicated to 5G.
CTIA sought a “comprehensive national vision” on spectrum, meeting an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Smart spectrum policies -- including setting a five-year schedule of spectrum auctions, emphasizing free market principles such as exclusive flexible-use licenses, and modernizing government policies and procedures -- will unlock the enormous promise of 5G and spur U.S. global technological leadership,” CTIA filed, posted Tuesday in docket 18-122.
The Technological Advisory Council urged the FCC to take a deep dive into the new generation of dynamic antennas and the future of sharing spectrum. The group also heard an update on 5G and the IoT Tuesday, as it held its long-delayed final meeting for 2018. The meeting originally was scheduled for December and then twice postponed. No reports approved Tuesday were immediately available. TAC, launched when 2G was transitioning to 3G, celebrated its 20th birthday.
President Donald Trump’s administration again proposes to cut funding to CPB in its FY 2020 budget proposal as part of its “plan to move the Nation towards fiscal responsibility and to redefine the proper role of the Federal Government.” Trump signed off in October on a FY 2019 federal spending law that maintained CPB’s annual funding at $445 million through FY 2021, despite having proposed in that year’s budget request to draw down the program’s funding (see 1809280043). The budget increased proposed money for the FCC and NTIA from what the administration proposed in its FY 2019 request. The FCC’s figure is down from its funding level under the spending bill passed in February (see 1902150055).
Monday's release of President Donald Trump's FY 2020 $4.7 trillion federal budget proposal provided a limited picture of its potential impact on telecom and tech-centric federal agencies, with the FTC the only of those entities to release budget justification documents. The White House said it won't release an appendix of its full budget proposal figures until March 18. The FCC and Commerce Department didn't release their proposals. The administration is proposing $312.3 million in funding for the FTC, up from the almost $310 million it proposed in FY 2019 and the similar amount allocated in the federal spending law Trump signed last month (see 1902150055). The FTC's budget would keep staffing level from FY 2019 at 1,140 full-time equivalents. The agency plans to keep its division of labor unchanged, too, with 612 employees working in jobs aimed at consumer protection activities and 528 in competition-related roles. DOJ said it's allocating $166.8 million of its $29.2 billion proposed FY 2020 budget for the Antitrust Division and proposes increasing the division's staffing level by 39 positions. The White House's budget proposal again mentioned a perennial proposal to introduce a spectrum license user fee, which it estimates would generate about $4 billion revenue through 2029. FCC-administered spectrum auctions could generate $6.6 billion revenue through 2029, the White House said. The Trump administration also outlined infrastructure-related aspects of its budget proposal, which include $200 billion in funding for rural broadband and other non-transportation sectors.
Chairman Ajit Pai called the FCC's USF rate floor policy "crazy" philosophically, and cited plans for remedial actions. The idea that government forces rural telco phone rates up to reflect a national average, or lose high-cost USF support, doesn't make sense, he said in Q&A with NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield webcast from a rural telecom show in New Orleans. He hopes to "move with dispatch" to get fellow commissioners to agree with him on near-term relief and a longer-term solution. He recently criticized the rate floor and told lawmakers he planned to seek action in coming months (see 1901310036). Separately, Pai said he's seeking a "balance" on broadband performance testing that holds USF-backed providers accountable for their data-speed commitments while streamlining the process as much as possible to ease industry burdens. He said the FCC is focused on coordinating with the Agriculture and Commerce departments on broadband infrastructure efforts to ensure "we speak with one voice" so parties "aren't running over each other" and "we get the most bang for our buck." He said the commission wants to encourage more rural fiber deployment to feed nascent 5G wireless systems, which he believes have much potential in rural areas, though he recognized the business plan is difficult. It's important to create small geographic license sizes in spectrum auctions to "incentivize" bidding by small as well as big providers, he said: "Stay tuned." He spoke enthusiastically about the opportunities broadband can create in rural America through remote healthcare and other applications, noting when he was growing up in rural Kansas, his doctor father used to drive 45 miles to visit patients. His overall focus remains on ensuring every American is "empowered" in the digital age: "That requires broadband."