Pai Announces July Vote on C-Band; Ergen Plots $10 Billion 5G Play at WIA

"We need to be aggressive in our policy decisions” and act as if U.S. leadership in 5G “is the only acceptable option,” Pai said. That will include spectrum and infrastructure actions, the chairman said. At the commissioners' July meeting, Pai will float an item to “make more intensive use” of C-band spectrum, “including seeking additional input on making it available for commercial terrestrial use,” he said. Meanwhile, the FCC is looking at how to lower state and local barriers, while respecting “legitimate” interests of governments, Pai said. “It’s important that we strike the right balance.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who told WIA Tuesday there could be an item this summer on removing local barriers, said he’s done being nice to state and local governments (see 1805220034).

“A clean sheet of paper” is Dish’s biggest advantage against large incumbent wireless carriers, Ergen said. Dish will bring new services and doesn’t have to worry about legacy technology and infrastructure, he said. Incumbents are great at connecting phones, but Dish has “a vision of connecting everything,” enabling robotics, virtual reality and other new tech, he said. The company’s disadvantage is that it has no customers and isn’t as knowledgeable as incumbents, he said. Dish wants to partner with infrastructure businesses that can provide expertise on building terrestrial networks, he said. It has some agreements with tower companies and radio vendors, he said.

The satellite-TV provider has 654 days from Wednesday to finish its narrowband IoT network, which is phase one, Ergen said. The core network should be done later this summer, with testing this fall, he said. Phase two is building a nationwide 5G network with Dish’s low- and mid-band spectrum, he said. Ergen said 600 MHz spectrum won’t be cleared on a nationwide basis until July 2020, and the company also waits for 3rd Generation Partnership Project 5G standards, expected in 2019.

Infrastructure

Wireless infrastructure companies see big business opportunity resulting from the newcomer, though it’s early days, said American Tower, Crown Castle and other executives on a later panel.

Tower CEOs were mixed on T-Mobile buying Sprint (see 1805230006). It’s hard to see going from four to three carrier customers as a good thing, said Vertical Bridge CEO Alexander Gellman. If the carriers merge, they may kill about 25,000 cellsites, he said. But Gellman is “bullish” on the industry longer term, he said. It may not matter how many carriers are left, because what really drives business is increasing consumer demand on networks, Crown Castle CEO Jay Brown said. The tower company sees business opportunity for small cells over the next two decades as bigger than towers in the past two decades, he said.

WIA CEO Jonathan Adelstein is "thrilled" with Pai's C-band announcement and commitment to streamlining infrastructure deployment, Adelstein said in an interview. Ergen's announcement that "he's going to do a build of at least $10 billion is great news for the wireless infrastructure industry," he said. "He's one of the most exciting new opportunities for the businesses here."

That Dish is entering into real, long-term tower lease commitments shows the company is genuinely committed to a build-not-sell plan for its spectrum, which is surprising, MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett emailed investors. Moffett has indicated a better route for Dish is selling its AWS-4 spectrum (see 1705090013). The $10 billion Phase II 5G buildout "is bad news" for Dish shareholders and creditors, he said. He cited the two-phase buildout due in part to the mismatched timelines for mid-band AWS-4 spectrum for downlink, and the 600 MHz low-band spectrum for uplink that won’t be available until a year or so after the upcoming FCC deadline in 2020. Dish stock closed down 3.1 percent to $30.98 Wednesday.

CTIA agreed with Pai that the U.S. must lead on 5G. "Repurposing mid-band spectrum to spur America’s 5G leadership against nations like China and South Korea will be a critical part of this effort, and we encourage the FCC to open up the 3.7-4.2 GHz band for commercial terrestrial use as quickly as possible," said Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann.

WIA Notebook

The FCC is hard at work on ways to lower local barriers to broadband deployment, with many ideas floated and many meetings happening, said Erin McGrath, wireless aide to O’Rielly, on an afternoon WIA panel. On timing, “next few months sounds right to me,” but it's up to Pai, McGrath said. Collaboration with local governments would be ideal, but O’Rielly feels that’s been tried for years without success, she said. The FCC may be looking at a deemed-granted remedy for violations of shot clocks for processing industry applications, but there are legal questions about how to implement that mechanism, said Davis Wright attorney Scott Thompson. The commission also may consider shorter shot clocks for certain types of installations, what to do about local moratoriums and allegedly discriminatory treatment of wireless compared with other technologies in the right of way, he said.

A federal interagency working group may release recommendations early next year on broadband issues including how to streamline federal permitting and better coordinate and improve effectiveness of agencies’ programs, said NTIA Senior Adviser Jennifer Duane on a morning panel. NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service co-chair the Broadband Interagency Working Group, which also includes the FCC, DoD and more than 20 other agencies with a stake in such issues, Duane said. Strengthening coordination among agencies is key to ensuring broadband funding goes to the right places, she said. Chances are likely “zero” for passing President Donald Trump’s infrastructure spending bill this year, but that doesn’t mean government can’t do anything to spur broadband, said Wiley Rein’s Josh Turner. More federal money would be useful, but the proposed package likely wouldn’t bring enough broadband money even if passed, Turner said. If Democrats win big in November elections, it may become even harder to pass the package, he said. With private investment waiting, government can spread broadband without additional appropriations by speeding up access to federal lands, removing regulatory red tape and lowering other barriers, the attorney said. "Problem communities” are not all local governments, but they are there and a big drag on deployment, he said.