Several telecom-focused congressional leaders told us they’re more seriously considering directly appropriating $3.08 billion to fully close the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program funding shortfall amid the ongoing stall in talks on a spectrum legislative package that top lawmakers long hoped could pay for the additional funding (see 2311010001). The outlook for a spectrum legislative deal is very dim while lawmakers continue to wait for DOD to release a much-anticipated report on repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial 5G use (see 2310180062). Communications policy-focused lobbyists and officials are closely following how work on FY 2024 appropriations legislation progresses in the weeks ahead for signs to indicate whether a change in tack on rip and replace takes place.
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.
When trying to gauge how fully utilized nonfederal spectrum is, no commercial-use band should be off limits, multiple trade groups said Friday in FCC docket 23-232 reply comments. Numerous comments argued that the fact that a band is licensed for exclusive use doesn't mean it's automatically being used to maximum efficiency. Commissioners unanimously approved the spectrum usage notice of inquiry at their August meeting (see 2308030075).
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and other backers of his Senate-passed 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) are resuming their push for the House to pass the measure now that the chamber has resolved the leadership crisis that halted all legislative activity for most of October. The measure’s backers believe its enactment may be the easiest way to blunt the short-term effects of the FCC losing its spectrum auction authority, a lapse that began almost eight months ago. Lawmakers are continuing to press for full restoration of the mandate but believe that will be difficult until DOD releases its much-anticipated report on repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial 5G use.
Given the huge growth the satellite industry is seeing and the spectrum needs coming from that growth, the FCC should expand satellite use of the 12.7-13.25 GHz band rather than reallocate it for terrestrial wireless use, Intelsat, SES, Hispasat, Eutelsat and Ovzon representatives told Space Bureau staffers, per a docket 22-352 filing Thursday. They said they can make use of the spectrum almost immediately while it would be "many years before terrestrial operators will even be ready to take up this spectrum at auction and to deploy actual service to the public." Terrestrial mobile use at scale in the 12.7 GHz band would create aggregate in-band interference to satellite operations exceeding levels that would allow co-primary service sharing of the band, they said. Terrestrial mobile would also disrupt adjacent-band direct broadcast satellite and non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite services, they said.
AT&T, Dish Network, NCTA and public interest groups were among those to call on the FCC to revisit spectrum caps, in response to a September notice from the FCC (see 2309220064). Other comments saw the rulemaking as a waste of time for the agency. AT&T asked for a rulemaking two years ago, focused on mid-band holdings, but the FCC's questions go beyond what AT&T sought (see 2310060051).
T-Mobile remains at least two years ahead of its competition on the deployment of spectrum for 5G, CEO Mike Seivert told analysts Wednesday as the carrier announced Q3 results. T-Mobile said it added 850,000 postpaid smartphones in the quarter, with churn of 0.87%. The carrier also announced it now covers 300 million POPs with dedicated mid-band 5G, two months ahead of its target.
Verizon officials emphasized improvements in the company’s overall financial performance Tuesday, as the carrier reported Q3 earnings. Verizon lost 51,000 postpaid residential phone customers but picked up a net 151,000 business subscribers, for 100,000 total postpaid phone net adds in the quarter, above consensus estimates of 63,600. Verizon’s stock price increased sharply, closing up 9.17% for the day at $34.30.
An Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report, released Monday, calls on the federal policymakers to develop policies that consider tradeoffs of licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum, and make allocations for the right reasons. “Licensed spectrum is good for providing the certainty needed to sustain wireless applications that require large, sustained investments,” but revenue from license auctions should be seen as “a side effect, not a goal in itself,” the report said. Spectrum auctions can generate lots of revenue, but “it is the market mechanism (including tradability on secondary markets) and the type of rights embodied by an exclusive license that make it a productive allocation,” it said. Unlicensed spectrum, “is a good way to prevent usage rights from becoming too fragmented,” but claims of congestion shouldn’t justify making more available, ITIF said: “One commonly cited claim is that unlicensed spectrum’s uses are important and valuable, and therefore more bandwidth should be freed up to ensure more reliable access to it. The problem with this argument is that licensed spectrum exists precisely for those who can’t operate under the uncertainties associated with unlicensed spectrum.” Spectrum sharing has become increasingly necessary as spectrum becomes more congested, ITIF said. Dynamic sharing “could even become the first-best allocation if technological advances enable a generalized use-or-share framework” and “there can be little objection, from a policy perspective, to allowing additional uses of a licensed band that does not cause harmful interference to the licensee,” the report said. But there are also limitations, ITIF said, noting power levels permitted in the citizens broadband radio service band are “327 times lower than those in the exclusively licensed band just above it.”
Getting Congress to restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority as quickly as possible is a top priority of the Competitive Carriers Association, CCA President Tim Donovan said Wednesday at the start of the group’s annual conference in Atlanta. Donovan also urged launching a 5G Fund, the topic of a September Further NPRM (see 2309210035).
CTIA and Google officials clashed Tuesday on the future of spectrum sharing and the citizens broadband radio service band, speaking during a Broadband Breakfast webinar on spectrum sharing. Other speakers said CBRS has been a success.