Unless President Joe Biden makes nominations soon and the Senate acts (see 2110080043), in just three months the once nearly unthinkable could happen -- a 2-1 majority-GOP FCC with Geoffrey Starks the acting chairman and sole Democrat. Industry observers said if that happens it will probably mean a continuation of the current FCC under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Starks will set the agenda but can seek votes only on items where there's Republican buy-in. Contentious issues like rewriting net neutrality rules would be pushed to a time when Democrats have a majority. Rosenworcel and Starks didn't comment.
A single-round, sealed-bid format is critical for wireless ISPs to bid in an eventual 2.5 GHz auction, WISPA said in calls with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. “The vast majority of WISPA’s 700-plus members are very small fixed wireless internet service providers” who “lack the resources to hire auction consultants and inhouse counsel,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-429. Most have never participated in an FCC auction, the group said: “There is equal unfamiliarity with both auction designs. To these potential bidders, who lack experience with spectrum auctions and the resources to hire consultants, a single-round, sealed-bid auction is much easier to understand than a simultaneous, multiple-round auction.” WISPA noted a single round auction would also be quicker and makes sense in a band where “the lack of fungibility contrasts with other spectrum auctions where the licenses are typically offered for an unencumbered area … in equal-size spectrum blocks.”
The 3.45 GHz auction, which starts Tuesday, could hit $30 billion in proceeds, LightShed’s Walter Piecyk told investors Thursday. The analyst bases that estimate on an average price of $1.00 MHz/POP, which is less than the $1.10 paid for C-band spectrum or the $1.82 bid in the recent Canadian auction of 3.5 GHz spectrum. AT&T and Verizon are likely to “both acquire the maximum allowable 40 MHz of spectrum for $12 billion each,” he said. The band has better propagation characteristics than C-band and was included in new iPhones starting last year, he said. “Operators will likely be able to deploy the new spectrum sooner than most of the C-Band, due to the multi-year clearing process of satellite operators.” Piecyk sees T-Mobile’s spectrum advantage narrowing. “T-Mobile’s 127 MHz spectrum depth lead over its closest competitor shrunk to 45 MHz following two FCC spectrum auctions,” he said: “Verizon can effectively eliminate this spectrum deficit altogether by integrating up to 80 MHz of General Access [citizens broadband radio service] spectrum into its network.”
The FCC could remain fully open “through Oct. 11” in the event of a now-unlikely government shutdown, acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday. See our news bulletin here. President Joe Biden was expected to have signed a continuing resolution later that day to fund the federal government through Dec. 3 (HR-5305), averting a shutdown of agencies that would otherwise begin at midnight. Prospects for a planned Thursday House vote on the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) were in doubt amid opposition from progressives in the Democratic caucus to affirming the Senate-passed measure without first voting on a budget reconciliation package that's still under negotiation.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell of Washington and other chamber Democratic leaders told us they haven’t signed off on the House Commerce Committee’s portion of the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package because of what they consider an underwhelming amount of money for broadband. Senate Republicans we spoke with appeared unified with their House colleagues in opposition to the language.
Federal next-generation 911 funding has a slim chance of making it into a final infrastructure spending package, but Congress has other viable paths to enact the money this year, supportive lawmakers and officials said in recent interviews. The Senate passed its amended Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) with $65 billion for broadband but no NG-911 funding (see 2108100062). Some 911 stakeholders hope House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders will push to add at least some of the $15 billion they proposed in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-1848) when the chamber considers HR-3684 or via a coming budget reconciliation package.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., floated a last-minute bid Thursday to kill a $42.5 billion NTIA-led broadband equity, access and deployment grants program included in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and redirect it to the FCC for similar purposes. The amendment appears unlikely to get a floor vote, in line with expectations on other GOP bids to strike or pare back the $65 billion broadband section of the infrastructure substitute to shell bill HR-3684 (see 2108040072).
The Wireless ISP Association urged a single-round, sealed-bid 2.5 GHz auction format, in a call with FCC Office of Economics and Analytics staff. There's “strong interest among WISPA’s members in participating,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-429. WISPs seek to buy licenses “for targeted areas.” The auction's “lack of fungibility contrasts with other spectrum auctions where the licenses are typically offered for an unencumbered area,” the group said, “in equal-size spectrum sizes.”
Bipartisan Senate negotiators were finalizing language Wednesday for their long-sought infrastructure spending package, after reaching a deal earlier in the day to resolve outstanding broadband and other items that had divided the group in recent days (see 2107220040). The measure is expected to keep broadband funding in the package at the agreed-upon $65 billion (see 2106240070), Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters. It’s also expected to include an extension of the FCC-led emergency broadband benefit, part of what’s expected to be a split decision between Democratic and Republican positions on connectivity affordability, lobbyists told us.
Commissioners OK’d a Further NPRM proposing revised rules for short-range radars in the 60 GHz band 4-0 Tuesday, as expected (see 2107090047). But Commissioner Brendan Carr questioned whether the FCC is moving aggressively enough on opening spectrum for 5G and unlicensed use. The FNPRM explores new rules for the 57-64 GHz portion and asks questions about using the broader 57-71 GHz band.