Sequestration Won’t Slow FCC Work on Incentive Auction, Lake Says
The FCC will look closely at interoperability and possible requirements that devices can be used across the spectrum that is sold in the pending incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman said at a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council lunch Tuesday. Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said sequestration, even if it kicks in “as widely expected” starting Friday, won’t slow FCC efforts to hold an incentive auction next year.
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Jenell Trigg, a lawyer at Lerman Senter who represents designated entities, asked Milkman about an interoperability requirement in light of the ongoing fight on a similar mandate for the 700 MHz band. “As you know there are some problems with interoperability,” Trigg said. “That really hurts designated entities, but it hurts anyone who can’t get and purchase … equipment in a reasonable and timely manner.”
"Given the amount of time I have spent on dealing with interoperability issues in the 700 MHz band, I have a very strong interest in making sure that there is interoperability,” Milkman said. “It’s unclear how it would be implemented in the 600 MHz band."
Lake downplayed concerns about the effect of sequestration given the huge amount of work FCC staffers still have to do to develop auction rules following some highly contentious comments filed in the initial comment round (CD Jan 29 p1). “The commission wisely tightened its belt in advance,” he said. “One question, obviously, is how long the sequestration lasts. But we don’t anticipate that sequestration going into effect will interrupt what we're trying to do here.” A 2014 auction scheduling is “aggressive, but we think we can do it,” Lake said. An FCC official told us work on the auction was excluded by the administration from the sequester. (See related report this issue.)
Milkman noted that despite questions about the FCC’s preferred band plan for the auction, there was significant support for many of the proposals. In January, the NAB, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Intel collectively raised concerns about the plan to put some broadcasters in the so-called duplexer gap, surrounded by wireless operations (CD Jan 24 p1).
"We got a surprising amount of consensus on certain aspects of the band plan,” Milkman said. “Five megahertz blocks, total unanimity, which I think we expected but I think we were gratified to see that everybody really wanted 5 megahertz blocks.” There was also broad consensus spectrum should be auctioned in economic area-sized blocks and in favor of generic blocks, which don’t specify the frequency purchased, Milkman said. “That was a pleasant surprise to us -- we've never done generic blocks in auctions in this country,” she said.
NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan pressed Milkman on whether the commission will reissue the auction rules, once they are more complete, and seek a second round of comments before moving forward. (Milkman replaced Kaplan as bureau chief.) “It’s so essential,” Kaplan said. “It could be an expedited round of comment. Have you considered that?” “We really haven’t,” Milkman replied. “We're waiting for the reply comments to come in. We're digesting the comments. We'll see what the reply comments say.” “Is it a possibility?” Kaplan pressed. “Everything is possible,” Milkman replied.
Milkman also said Tuesday the FCC is likely to wrap up its controversial spectrum aggregation proceeding before the incentive auction. The proceeding could lead to restrictions on bidding in the auction by the nation’s two largest carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. “There are a variety of options on the table including large changes and small changes and it’s also possible that the commission will decide how we do it right now works fine,” she said. “I think what’s important is to have a decision on that before the incentive auction.”