MetroPCS is open to bidding in the 700 MHz auction, executives said on the company’s Q1 financial conference call. But they avoided statements committing to it. The wireless carrier, which has maneuvered at the FCC in ways suggesting interest in the valuable spectrum, reported a strong quarter and predicting geographic and financial growth in the coming quarters. MetroPCS is flush; a recent IPO raised more than $1 billion cash.
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.
Inmarsat wants on Europe’s troubled Galileo navigation project whether it stays a public-private partnership or the European Commission decides it will pay for the project, said Inmarsat CEO Andrew Sukawaty in a Q1 earnings call. Other topics in the call included launch plans for Inmarsat 4-3, use of ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) service and the company’s plans for handheld service.
The way the FCC structures the upcoming 700 MHz band auction will determine “the content, structure, and performance” of wireless broadband for the next 20-25 years, former FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt said during an interview that was scheduled to air Sat. on C-SPAN’s The Communicators series.
Proposed FCC build-out requirements for the 700 MHz band, which Chmn. Martin calls “the most stringent,” will hurt new entrants in the band, EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen told analysts in a Thurs. Q1 earnings call. That won’t necessarily stop EchoStar from participating in the auction, he said: “We are used to doing impossible things and those rules would not be a reason to not participate.” The Commission wants to require operators to serve 25% of their license areas in 3 years, 50% in 5 years and 75% in 8 years or risk losing authority to serve unserved areas.
The FCC should avoid asking carriers for overly granular data in studying sector competition, CTIA said. The group was responding to an agency request for comments on wireless industry competition to go into the agency’s 12th Annual CMRS Competition Report. CTIA said USF money will be key to greater wireless expansion in rural America.
FARMINGTON, Pa. -- Don’t view the end of proceedings on interference temperature and receiver performance regulation as a sign that the FCC won’t keep pursuing innovative ways to use spectrum, Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Julius Knapp said at the annual FCBA seminar here. As expected -- and despite reluctance expressed by Comrs. Adelstein and Copps -- the FCC formally ended both proceedings(CD May 4 p2), which were follow-ups to the Spectrum Policy Task Force.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Cal. -- FCC Chmn. Martin said Silicon Valley pelted him with “lots of concerns” about the wireless industry “stifling” innovation in handsets and applications. Alluding to Skype’s petition to apply the Carterfone rules to cellular, he told the Churchill Club technology-business forum here Thurs. that his comments were constrained by the pending Commission proceeding.
Verizon was tight-lipped on its 700 MHz auction plans as announcing Q1 financial results, including a revenue uptick but slightly lower profits due to increased network spending. CEO Ivan Seidenberg said the company reserves the right to pursue intellectual property litigation for its PSTN technology, as it has in the Vonage case, but will wait until that case plays out before considering other action. The company voiced confidence in quickly resolving any upcoming union contract negotiations.
The FCC plans to impose “the strictest build out requirements ever” in the 700 MHz spectrum, said FCC Chmn. Martin during debate Wed. on 700 MHz (CD April 26 Special Bulletin). The requirements, not yet released, are “meaningful,” Comr. Adelstein said: “We want to promote flexibility and innovation, but since the spectrum is a finite public resource, we want to see results as well… We are looking to ensure that the 700 MHz band will not become an untapped well for the thirsty and instead will be deployed to all corners of the country.”
The Media Access Project (MAP), while citing “collusion” in the 2006 AWS auction (CD April 24 p8), isn’t saying carriers broke the law or FCC rules, Gregory Rose, who completed the study on which MAP based its allegations, told us Wed. Rose found “more than tacit collusion may have been involved” in bidding for 2 of the auction’s largest licenses.