A new coalition representing high tech companies and DBS operators -- the Coalition for 4G in America -- asked the FCC to offer 700 MHz spectrum mostly in giant blocks and allow package bidding that would clear the way for EchoStar and DirecTV to put together a national wireless broadband network. Intel, Yahoo, Google, Skype and Access Spectrum signed off on the proposal with the DBS operators. The companies urged the FCC to divide the 60 MHz of spectrum to be sold into supersized regional (REAG) licenses and midsized major economic area licenses, but not the small license areas sought by small carriers. The group also said the FCC should allow package bidding, under which a company could bid for a national license across all regions. If such a bid were higher than the sum of bids for individual licenses, the national bidder would win. “This would essentially enable a 3rd pipe into the home,” said a supporter of the plan: “Most of the other parties in this docket are looking to fill in footprints or small geographic areas rather than provide a 3rd pipe nationwide… It’s really a story about new entrants and new technologies, and it’s a WiMAX story because you need 10 MHz blocks to do WiMAX.” The group said the 15 MHz paired commercial allocation in the upper 700 MHz band should be reconfigured into a 16.5 MHz paired allocation -- to be divided into a 11 MHz pair and a 5.5 MHz pair. “The use of 5.5 MHz ‘building blocks’ gives an immediate 10% increase in bandwidth compared to 5 MHz blocks,” the group said in a filing at the Commission: “This allows more capable next- generation broadband network performance, going into the auction.” The filing argued that package bidding would allow companies to more efficiently buy spectrum: “The use of package bidding and this licensing scheme would promote new entry by permitting flexible business plans and preventing a company from blocking nationwide entry simply by acquiring one regional license.”
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.
A plan by Vt. Gov. Jim Douglas (R) to make the Green Mountain State a broadband paradise got a cool reaction from some activists wary of the private part of Douglas’s “public- private” proposal. Speaking to the Freedom to Connect conference near D.C., Douglas pitched his “e-state” plan as a way to create a state authority to make broadband and cellular networks available across Vt., whose rural landscape leaves large gaps in coverage. “We don’t want just to catch up -- we want to lead” other states in expanding access, Douglas said.
The Wireless Communications Assn. asked the FCC to reject M2Z’s proposal to build a 20 MHz national broadband network in the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum band, warning of possible ill-effects on its members. “M2Z’s application fails any relevant public interest standard - indeed, a grant of M2Z’s application would stand Congressional auction policy on its head and, among other things, put ongoing wireless broadband deployments at risk by exposing Broadband Radio Service channel 1 and 2/2A licensees in the 2150-2162 MHz band to potentially destructive interference,” WCA said. Paul Sinderbrand, WCA gen. counsel, told us his group had specific concerns but also questioned the proposal more broadly: “Our concern is that granting the proposal starts the Commission down a slippery slope… Congress has found that generally auctions are the best mechanism for awarding speech when there is more than one person interested in using it… It’s not obvious that the M2Z proposal is the highest and best use of that band.” The M2Z proposal attracted nearly 250 comments. An M2Z supporter said 230 of those comments were in support and about 10 opposed. Carriers were particularly vociferous in opposing the plan. M2Z lined up endorsements from EDUCAUSE, the Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, the Minority Media & Telecom Council and the National PTA.
EchoStar appears to be laying the groundwork to enter the mobile satellite services business through international alliances and a bid for FCC licenses in the 1.4 GHz band, SEC filings show.
Cyren Call considers itself in a long term audition to run a proposed public safety broadband trust but expects competition, Cyren Call founder Morgan O'Brien said in an interview for C-SPAN’s series “The Communicators” that was set to air over the weekend. O'Brien conceded that time is running short, with the 700 MHz auction expected to start as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) made good on a promise to introduce legislation that would set aside 30 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum for a public-safety broadband network.
FCC Comr. McDowell laid out ways the FCC could help industries from broadcasters to wireless by boosting 700 MHz spectrum use and broadband deployment and promoting newer technologies and parental TV controls. Speaking to NAB members, he pushed to hold the 700 MHz auction soon, voicing support for several rules circulating on the 8th floor that could help radio stations (CD March 1 p1). McDowell became the first commissioner to make a public link between the XM- Sirius merger and the FCC media ownership rulemaking, saying both proceedings likely will involve examination of how new technologies affect media.
Any “regulation” requiring net neutrality for wireless broadband could hamper what has become the fastest growing way of connecting to the Internet, CTIA told the FTC. Nearly 60% of new high-speed lines Dec. 2005-June 2006 were mobile broadband wireless lines, CTIA said. The written comments addressed issues raised in a Feb. FTC summit on broadband connectivity competition policy
Sprint Nextel doesn’t plan to bid on spectrum in the 700 MHz auction later this year or early 2008, top executives said Wed. in a call on Q4 and year-end financial results. At year-end Sprint had $2 billion cash that it will use to buy back stock and for other purposes, not as spectrum bait. “At this time we have no interest in participation in that,” CEO Gary Forsee said: “We've got the best spectrum position of any of the carrier competitors.”
Cablevision might skip the next spectrum auction, using partnerships with existing wireless operators to add mobile products to its bundle of services, CEO James Dolan said Tues. in an earnings teleconference. “It’s yet to be proven whether wireless is going to be an effective part of a bundle to offer to the home,” Dolan said: “We continue to study our options.” Cablevision didn’t bid in the recent auction and its controlling family withdrew from the process, though industry peers were among the biggest spectrum buyers (CD Aug 21 p8). The company Tues. reported mixed Q4 2006 results, forecasting a slowdown in subscriber additions for 2007.
Cyren Call needs more than 12 MHz of spectrum to set up a robust wireless broadband public safety network, it told the FCC. Cyren, which wants a 30 MHz network, said 12 MHz, to be carved out of 24 MHz scheduled for public safety after the DTV transition, simply isn’t enough. No plan using so little spectrum makes investment sense, it said. A Dec. FCC NPRM asked how the agency should change the rules for the 24 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum public safety gets after transition (CD Dec 21 p7).