Industry Stakeholders Express Spectrum Concerns Before Congress

The FCC should manage the majority spectrum use “to avoid duplication and maximize efficiency,” CTIA added in its 25-page response. Good policy emphasizes “licensed spectrum in bands suited for mobile broadband, directs spectrum sharing where and when clearing is not feasible, with a preference for transitional sharing over long-term sharing, and provides opportunities for unlicensed use in bands that may not be suited or available for licensed use,” CTIA said.

The FCC and others should be directed to “expedite access to wireless facilities consistent with Congressional directives” and the FCC should be able to “centralize spectrum management in a single bureau, adopt flexible license use policies, implement flexible build-out obligations, and utilize receiver standards when necessary,” CTIA recommended.

"Congress need not, and should not, dictate the internal organizational structure of the FCC,” cautioned the Telecommunications Industry Association in its comments (http://bit.ly/1pzv5d5). Sprint “recognizes the important dual roles of NTIA and the FCC in the management of spectrum,” it said. T-Mobile also wants an FCC bureau that would be devoted to spectrum issues. CEA pointed out to Congress that effective management of spectrum assignment and use is crucial, citing concerns that management hasn’t been the best at promoting efficient use so far: “NTIA and/or OMB [Office of Management and Budget] should take a more active role in the agency procurement and budget processes to ensure that requests for spectrum in prime mobile bands are essential to meet the agencies’ missions, that agencies are using the spectrum efficiently, and that the agencies’ needs cannot be met through alternative means -- including by the use of commercial off-the-shelf systems,” CEA said.

T-Mobile recommended that Congress ensure the FCC retains “the ability to auction spectrum, including spectrum reallocated by the FCC from incumbent licensees such as broadcasters, and impose spectrum aggregation limits. Sprint wants any spectrum availability debate to include the state of wireless competition as a factor, it said. Sprint said low-band spectrum is particularly valuable and said access to it must be expanded beyond the top two carriers. “Spectrum aggregation limits have not shown to be necessary -- and could be an impediment to providing next generation services that will require more spectrum to support services requiring more bandwidth,” TIA countered.

"Congress, the FCC, and NTIA should work to identify instances where private use of a band would be more efficient and government users can move without undermining government needs -- or, where this is not possible, where government and private users can share a band,” NCTA recommended. “The first step in this exploration is a better mechanism for sharing information between public and private spectrum users. Government agencies work hard to engage with private entities, but there is not a mechanism that allows the exchange of technical data and ideas in a reasonable timeframe while protecting sensitive information. Congress could promote sharing by creating such a mechanism.”

CEA praised unlicensed spectrum at length in its comments: “Congress should continue to afford the Commission the ability to promote innovation and efficient spectrum use through the allocation of additional unlicensed spectrum,” CEA said, saying the FCC has effectively employed models for both licensed and unlicensed. T-Mobile argued that licensed and unlicensed types of spectrum are “important, and indeed complementary, assets for providers,” it noted. “Managing interference between licensees and services must continue to be a core Commission function,” T-Mobile said. “Indeed, spectrum management is generally considered to have been the driving force behind the adoption of the Communications Act and its predecessor.” A Communications Act overhaul should “promote the availability of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum allocations while recognizing their varied utility and deployment capabilities,” Sprint said. TIA warned against a “one-size-fits-all approach” to unlicensed spectrum and said “spectrum bands under consideration for unlicensed will not have the same propagation characteristics, and particular bands may lend themselves to support certain types of services.”

Sprint also wants Congress to “clarify” the FCC’s authority to look at policies for reducing harmful spectrum interference, which would include the possible adoption of receiver standards, it said. T-Mobile backs “further assessment” of such tools as the “harm claim thresholds” strategy of spectrum management, as the FCC Technical Advisory Committee has suggested, the carrier said. NCTA said that strategy is also “worth exploring.” CEA backs “investigating the use of harm claim thresholds, particularly in cases where diverse uses are operating in the same band,” it said.

"While rulemaking would be premature, TIA is prepared to facilitate an industry-government multi-stakeholder process to explore issues of receiver performance, whether based on ‘harm claim thresholds’ or an alternative approach,” TIA said. “TIA is well-situated to facilitate development of such standards.”

House lawmakers asked about the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act, HR-3674, which the House Commerce Committee cleared in December. Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced the bill. CTIA supports the bill and backs more efforts to free up federal spectrum, it said. The legislation “could create a strong incentive for federal agencies to vacate their spectrum,” T-Mobile said. “However, other methods by which federal agencies are provided incentives must also be explored, including providing federal users with a portion of proceeds related to the spectrum they agree to vacate, outside of the sequestration funding-reduction process.” Sprint criticized inefficiencies in federally held spectrum and backs in such instances the reallocation for exclusive commercial or shared use. Sprint backs Congress exploring “the many ways in which sharing can be accomplished,” it said. “To be effective, any incentive mechanism must as a matter of course reimburse agencies for all costs reasonably incurred in relinquishing or sharing spectrum,” CEA said. Congress could improve federal spectrum management by requiring better tracking, stronger central coordination, providing agency incentives, flexible-use funding and commercial alternatives, TIA said.

NCTA likes “build-out rules for licensed bands that grant one party the exclusive use of the band,” which are important for licensees that didn’t get spectrum rights from auctioning, it told Congress. The FCC “should harmonize broadband build-out obligations across bands used to provide wireless broadband services to ensure that all spectrum licensees have the same basic obligation to deploy broadband services to the American public as expeditiously as possible,” Sprint said. Buildout requirements “should be flexible enough to accommodate unique circumstances and unforeseen events,” considerations “such as the need to accommodate federal users, particularly as more spectrum is shared,” CTIA observed. The FCC should stay open to requests for modifying buildout obligations, CTIA added. TIA said they could be an “effective tool.”

The Free State Foundation submitted comments laying out principles of spectrum policy focused on what it sees as market convergence. Congress “should abrogate the existing framework and replace it with a system that fosters a robust market in which spectrum rights can be freely traded largely independent of any FCC administrative control,” Free State said (http://bit.ly/1tLs9K9). George Mason University’s Mercatus Center lamented what it judged “tremendous waste of spectrum resources for decades instead of freeing most spectrum for allocation via market processes” and offered several cautionary recommendations about the best path forward (http://bit.ly/1nNVIpX). Spokespeople for AT&T, the Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA and Verizon indicated they would be filing comments but were not able to provide them by our deadline. NAB did not file comments Friday, a spokesman said. (jhendel@warren-news.com)