Wireless Infrastructure Association President Patrick Halley praised President Joe Biden Wednesday night for signing the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) (see 2312200061). Yet Halley said he believes it’s “imperative that Congress” follow that stopgap measure with a long-term renewal of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority. The House passed the 5G act measure last week (see 2312110062), giving the FCC authority for 90 days to issue the 2.5 GHz licenses. Lawmakers viewed it as a stopgap measure, required after months of stalled Capitol Hill talks on a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s lapsed general auction authority (see 2312040001). “Anything less” than a “long-term reauthorization” will “continue to hamper the advancement of America’s mobile communications and put us in the competitive backseat against China and other global competitors,” Halley said.
Wireless Spectrum Auctions
The FCC manages and licenses the electromagnetic spectrum used by wireless, broadcast, satellite and other telecommunications services for government and commercial users. This activity includes organizing specific telecommunications modes to only use specific frequencies and maintaining the licensing systems for each frequency such that communications services and devices using different bands receive as little interference as possible.
What are spectrum auctions?
The FCC will periodically hold auctions of unused or newly available spectrum frequencies, in which potential licensees can bid to acquire the rights to use a specific frequency for a specific purpose. As an example, over the last few years the U.S. government has conducted periodic auctions of different GHz bands to support the growth of 5G services.
The House was expected to vote as soon as Monday night on the Senate-approved version of the 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787), as expected (see 2312060073), amid hopes of salvaging at least incremental progress after months of stalled Capitol Hill talks on a broader legislative package that would renew the FCC’s general auction authority. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and former commission and State Department officials highlighted during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event the importance of Congress reauthorizing the spectrum auction mandate and reaching a consensus that will allow the U.S. to reclaim a top leadership role in wireless innovation.
Lawmakers are beginning to talk about how to pivot from the House Commerce Committee-approved Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) text as Capitol Hill continues digesting findings of DOD's study about the potential effects commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band will have on incumbent military systems (see 2311290001), lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., acknowledges the unpublished DOD study’s findings likely mean lawmakers must forgo authorizing an auction of lower 3 GHz spectrum as part of a near-term compromise package.
DOD’s recent transmission to Congress of its study of the potential effects of commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band on incumbent military systems likely means spectrum policy will be a larger focus during the House Communications Subcommittee’s Thursday FCC oversight hearing than earlier thought given Republican opposition to some agency actions since it gained a Democratic majority in September, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Subpanel members’ opinions about the FCC’s proceeding aimed at restoring most of its rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules and the commission’s adoption of digital discrimination rules earlier this month are still highly likely to be the central feature of the hearing (see 2311210073).
The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), the longest-standing federal telecom advisory committee, predating the FCC, is expected to continue to play an important role in developing spectrum policy, though now it will work with the new Interagency Spectrum Advisory Council (ISAC), industry experts said. Some details about how IRAC and ISAC will collaborate remain to be determined, they added. The administration released its long-awaited national spectrum strategy, and a presidential memorandum on modernizing U.S. spectrum policy, two weeks ago (see 2311130048).
Smith Bagley Inc. (SBi), which serves tribal lands in the Four Corners region of the U.S., called for a tribal 5G Fund of at least $2.5 billion. Reply comments as the FCC considers a proposed 5G Fund (see 2310240046) were due Tuesday in docket 20-32. Other comments urged the FCC to move forward on a fund.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a Nov. 30 FCC oversight hearing that will scrutinize President Joe Biden’s “Broadband Takeover,” the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The announcement's tone likely presages a major focus on the FCC’s pursuit of a new net neutrality rulemaking that largely mirrors the commission’s rescinded 2015 rules and a reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 2310190020), lobbyists told us. Meanwhile, two senior House Commerce members -- Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio -- announced they’re not seeking reelection in 2024.
With the World Radiocommunication Conference starting Monday in Dubai, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and former Chairman Ajit Pai questioned how well the U.S. is positioned to score wins. They spoke during an American Enterprise Institute webinar Friday. Pai was chairman during the previous WRC four years ago.
Verizon is satisfied with its progress on fixed wireless access after adding 384,000 FWA customers in Q3, Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas said at a Morgan Stanley financial conference Wednesday. “It's very simple -- you plug it in and go,” he said: “There's no install. … It resonates with customers and it's very simple to use, and that's been the goal with this.” Skiadas said Verizon is now able to deploy all the licenses it purchased in the C-band auction, providing some 160 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. “Our C-band is rolled out to ... a little more than half of our cellsites,” he said. “We're very pleased with the progress thus far of the build, but we still have more to do.”
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and others are hopeful that AI can aid in spectrum management activities, they said during a Communications Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. Rodgers and Pallone also praised the Biden administration Tuesday for releasing its long-awaited national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048). However, Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., was far less enthusiastic about the plan, which directs NTIA to study the 3.1-3.45, 5.03-5.091, 7.125-8.4, 18.1-18.6 and 37.0-37.6 GHz bands over the next two years for potential repurposing.