AT&T Faces 700 MHz Interoperability Mandate as Part of Qualcomm Deal
AT&T could have to accept a mandate the company has long sought to avoid if it wants to win quick approval from the FCC of its proposed buy of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm. Two members of the FCC, Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps, are both asking whether the purchase should be conditioned on AT&T’s agreement to abide by a 700 MHz interoperability requirement, agency and industry officials said Monday.
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FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski voted to approve the sale without the interoperability provision, but it needs the votes of at least two other commissioners for the order to be approved under the current four-member commission (CD Dec 5 p1). The timing of a vote could prove tricky for AT&T, agency officials said. Copps is leaving the commission no later than Jan. 1 and questions remain about when nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai will join the commission and how they would vote on various pending orders.
Small carriers who purchased 700 MHz A-block licenses have asked the FCC to impose a requirement that handsets operate across the lower 700 MHz band. The carriers have long maintained that without an interoperability requirement they will have difficulty buying handsets at reasonable prices (CD Oct 8/10 p1).
AT&T reported on a meeting between company officials and Clyburn aide Louis Peraertz in an ex parte letter published by the FCC Monday (http://xrl.us/bmktbm). The company argued that the mandate would be expensive to abide by and would do no good if the FCC doesn’t also address interference issues posed by TV stations on Channel 51 and remaining Lower E-block licensees.
"We explained, as an initial matter, that because we are not purchasing 700 MHz A block licenses in this transaction, such a demand is not specific to this merger and inappropriate,” the filing said. “We also explained that interoperability is achievable through the use of multi-mode, multi-band chipsets, like those currently being developed by Qualcomm, that will support many frequency bands to accommodate unique carrier needs.” The requirement would also “significantly delay and increase the cost of our LTE deployment and also degrade service quality,” AT&T said.
C-Spire CEO Hu Meena, chairman of the Rural Cellular Association, and other advocates of an interoperability requirement, met with Genachowski Friday, said Ben Moncrief, C Spire spokesman. Genachowski was “receptive and is clearly focused on the issue,” Moncrief said in an interview. “We are continuing to work with really all the offices on the eighth floor, including the chairman’s office, to address ... interference concerns that have previously been raised. We feel like we have addressed those rather conclusively in the record.”
Imposing the condition sought by smaller carriers “will reconsolidate the lower 700 MHz band class and that will unleash not just the fallow D- and E-block spectrum, but also the A-block spectrum, which has not had access to equipment and has not been able to deploy because of this band class issue,” said Michele Farquhar, attorney for Vulcan Wireless. Farquhar, former chief of the Wireless Bureau, noted that carriers other than Verizon Wireless spent more than $1 billion on A-block spectrum. “That’s been stranded ever since the 2008 700 MHz auction,” she said.