FCC actions to spur broadband infrastructure deployment and close the digital divide will remain at the top of Chairman Ajit Pai's agenda, said aide Jay Schwarz at a Thursday FCBA panel of all five commissioner wireline advisers. Other aides cited USF budgetary concerns -- including for rural healthcare (RHC) support -- jurisdictional separations, phone numbering and spectrum issues as priorities. Agency process reform was another focus, with the two Democratic aides joining the three Republicans in speaking positively about FCC release of draft items for meetings, an issue detailed in our Special Report (see 1711060006).
The FCC will move on additional infrastructure overhaul, but not all at once, Rachael Bender, wireless adviser to Chairman Ajit Pai, told an FCBA lunch audience Wednesday. Aides to all five commissioners were at the session and indicated they mostly agreed on the importance of 5G and other looming spectrum issues. The Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee meets Thursday in what's expected to be a key session.
Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chairmen Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., filed their Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109) Wednesday. The bill would require bidders' deposits in future spectrum auctions to be placed with the Treasury Department. The legislation's language would take effect Oct. 1. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said technicalities in the existing deposits process have been preventing the agency from holding additional auctions. The House Communications Subcommittee-cleared draft of the FCC Reauthorization Act also contains language to require auction deposits to go to Treasury (see 1710100066 and 1710110070). Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in written testimony before a Wednesday oversight hearing that lawmakers should move the deposits fix as a separate bill to give it an easier chance of passing quickly (see 1710240065). CTIA believes HR-4109 “will help bring billions of dollars in auction revenue to the U.S. Treasury while unlocking much needed spectrum,” said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel used a Friday Senate Commerce Committee field hearing with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., to announce a program to crowdsource data collected to update the National Broadband Map, saying “if we want to get serious about addressing our broadband problems, we need to know exactly where those problems are most pronounced.” Hassan’s hearing in Keene, New Hampshire, was to examine ways to improve broadband deployments, especially in rural areas. “We need better mapping” given that the National Broadband Map was last updated more than three years ago, Rosenworcel said in prepared testimony. “Too often the FCC cobbles together data for each individual rulemaking and report without a comprehensive and updated snapshot of where service is and is not.” Rosenworcel said she’s “a big believer in the wisdom of crowds, so I think we should put it to the public. If you’ve not been able to get service, or live in an area that lacks it, help us make a map.” She said she set up the email account broadbandfail@fcc.gov to collect the crowdsourced data, which she will share with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and “put on pressure to do something about it.” Rosenworcel also endorsed the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act (S-1682), which Hassan and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., fielded in August. The bill aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction. S-1682 also would direct the FCC to allocate 10 percent of proceeds from future spectrum auctions toward funding wireless broadband access for unserved and underserved consumers (see 1708010069). The legislation is “the kind of creative effort that would in time lead to more coverage on a broadband map and also help bridge the Homework Gap,” Rosenworcel said. “It’s good stuff.” U.S. Cellular Vice President-Federal Affairs Grant Spellmeyer also testified in favor of improving broadband mapping, drawing praise from the Competitive Carriers Association.
FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly welcomed Chairman Ajit Pai's spectrum frontiers plan to issue an order by year's end, and a Pai aide warned of a "potential stumbling block" to 5G auctions. Both spoke to the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Friday. O'Rielly said the agency should auction licensed bands quickly or at least set a schedule. He said millimeter-wave spectrum "of greatest interest to manufacturers and providers" should be prioritized, with industry focused on the 24 and 42 GHz bands. "Considering these bands also makes sense due to the proximity" to already-allocated 28, 37 and 39 GHz bands where providers are conducting trials, he said in remarks. O'Rielly cited benefits of international spectrum harmonization and said the EU and China are among those studying the 24 and 42 GHz bands for 5G use. He said more work is needed on mid-band spectrum for next-generation technologies. He couldn't support proposals for fixed operations at 3.7-4.2 GHz, and labeled as "gibberish" criticisms that proposals to provide industry more certainty contained in a pending draft 3.5 GHz NPRM were "stale ideas." Those ideas ushered in auctions and modern networks that made the U.S. "the leader" in wireless, he said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday criticized the 3.5 GHz draft as offering "stale ideas" (see 1710120009). Citing unlicensed mid-band opportunities, O'Rielly said it's time to bring the 5.9 GHz proceeding to a close, and also consider whether dedicated short-range communications are needed. If DSRC isn't needed, the FCC could combine the 5.9 and 6 GHz bands to expand unlicensed operations. Surveying Pai's policies, his adviser Rachael Bender hailed "flexible" spectrum use and detailed FCC efforts in low, mid and high bands as part of his "all-of-the-above approach." She said a hurdle to the 5G push is that bidder upfront payments are required by law to be put in an FCC-designated "interest bearing account of a financial institution," but no private entities want to do that for spectrum auctions because of recent regulatory changes on collateralization and capitalization. "So the commission currently has no way to comply with the law or move forward with a large spectrum auction," she said, noting a legislative fix was included in a draft FCC Reauthorization Act cleared by the House Communications Subcommittee Thursday (see 1710110070).
A letter that House Republican Conference Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., are circulating (see 1709290060) would in part urge FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to not allow any delays in the existing 39-month repacking timeline, according to text of the letter we obtained Friday. The letter would urge Pai to ensure incentive auction spectrum is “cleared no later than July 13, 2020, as currently scheduled.” Lawmakers have been considering whether to include language in final repack legislation to grant the FCC more authority to not penalize broadcasters that can't meet the existing timeline (see 1709070058). “Clearing the 600 MHz band as quickly as possible is a critical component of the ongoing effort to deploy high-speed internet to rural America and close the digital divide,” the letter says. “We are concerned that delays to the 39-month repacking timeline established by the FCC will impede the billions of dollars of private sector investments in infrastructure necessary for achieving this goal.” Delays in the 39-month timeline “would not only harm constituents in our districts, especially those in rural areas who do not have access to broadband or have only limited, unreliable wireless service, but also threaten to slash the financial contributions that spectrum auctions make” to the U.S. budget,” Eshoo's office said in an email seeking additional lawmakers' signatures on the letter. At least 39 other House members already had signed the letter, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
A theme of the Mobile World Congress Americas Wednesday was that, driven by advancements in wireless, the world is in the middle of a fourth industrial revolution. Verizon Wireless Group President Ronan Dunne said as a newcomer to the U.S., he feels lucky to get here “as the first glimpses of this new world are coming into view.” Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said some are skeptical about promises of this new digital age. And Sprint's CEO warned that local roadblocks are a hurdle, saying he discussed it with the president.
The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition is pushing a plan to solve the “vacant channel war” by partnering with a tech company, buying up low-power TV stations and seeking service waivers from the FCC to allow LPTV spectrum to provide a home for unlicensed use. Some low-power industry officials are skeptical, according to interviews. “Waivers are a heavy lift,” said attorney Michael Couzens, who represents low powers and translators. “We take the energy being directed at having this war, and are redirecting it to a solution in which everyone wins,” said coalition Director Mike Gravino. The coalition pitched the plan as a “truce” (see 1708020041), without support from other entities.
Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., filed their Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act Tuesday, as expected (see 1706260064). The bill aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction. The bill also would direct the FCC to allocate 10 percent of proceeds from future spectrum auctions toward funding wireless broadband access for unserved and underserved consumers. The bill "offers innovative ways to avoid a spectrum crunch, pave the way for 5G service, and provide critical resources to rural America to continue rural buildout in unserved and underserved areas," Gardner said. The bill got support from the communications sector, along with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly. Elements drew praise from a wide range of communications stakeholders, including Verizon, CTIA, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and WifiForward. The bill “shows a clear, bipartisan understanding by Congress that the nation needs real and achievable timelines to meet the continually increasing demands for spectrum from a growing number of American consumers and businesses,” said Verizon Senior Vice President-Federal Government Affairs Robert Fisher. “With new, next-gen wireless applications and services emerging daily, it also confirms that our nation's leaders recognize the importance of making a range of spectrum bands available for commercial mobile broadband.” CTIA believes the bill “provides a much needed long-term plan to unlock valuable licensed spectrum as demand for wireless data and content continues to skyrocket,” Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole said. “A predictable spectrum pipeline is vital to meet consumers' need for new and innovative services and sustain U.S. global leadership in a fast-approaching 5G world.” PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld lauded the bill's rural mobile broadband funding allocation provision, saying it “focuses spending directly on needed broadband infrastructure in a competitively neutral manner, without raising taxes or user fees.” OTI Wireless Future Program Director Michael Calabrese praised elements of the bill but noted there is “an immediate opportunity to share 500 megahertz of underutilized satellite spectrum above 3.7 GHz for more affordable rural and small town broadband that will be lost if the sole focus is raising one-time auction revenue that requires clearing satellite incumbents off the band and takes a decade to implement.”
Some recent court decisions have “nibbled away” at the concept of Chevron deference, attorneys from the FCC Office of General Counsel said at an FCBA CLE Monday evening. The legal principle that courts should give deference to expert agencies on matters of interpreting legislation is “in flux,” said Litigation Division Chief Jacob Lewis. “Chevron lives, it’s still healthy,” Lewis said, but the doctrine is facing “more serious challenges.