The FCC should ignore further arguments in favor of an expanded amount of reserve spectrum for the TV incentive auction and let the auction proceed, Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, said in a Monday blog post. “We already had this debate with the initial mobile spectrum holdings report and order a year ago,” Brake wrote. “There was an extensive back and forth on this very issue, the FCC already decided on a compromise. The FCC recognized the importance of 600 MHz spectrum to the competitive landscape, but also recognized that the primary advantage of auctioning spectrum is to discover the firm who values a particular license most.” The issue is before the FCC as it takes up refinements to the auction rules at its Thursday meeting (see 1507060068). Despite the claims of their competitors, Verizon and AT&T are the most spectrum-restrained carriers, Brake wrote. “These companies are not hoarding spectrum to foreclose competitors, but aggressively deploying,” he said. “Furthermore, this is an industry in the midst of a price war with margins falling. In fact, T-Mobile appears to be doing quite well by focusing on capacity in urban areas. Issues around rural coverage in this debate are largely red herrings -- the need for more spectrum, and, frankly, the money, is still in cities.”

The Competitive Carriers Association and leading members T-Mobile and Sprint jointly met with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to make their case for a larger spectrum reserve than the 30 MHz proposed by the commission. Dish Network was also at the meeting. The competitive carriers also stressed the importance of getting the reserve trigger right in the auction rules, said a filing posted Monday in docket 12-269. “The spectrum reserve is the only remaining competitive safeguard still under consideration to prevent AT&T and Verizon from using the 600 MHz auction to further consolidate their already considerable low-band spectrum holdings,” the competitors said.

The FCC should be “wary” of proposals to allow wireless microphone use in spectrum bands “that may present future opportunities for flexible, mobile broadband use,” CTIA said in a letter Monday to the FCC in docket 12-268. CTIA cited specifically the FCC’s look at such bands as the 1435-1525 MHz band for commercial wireless services. “To the extent the Commission does consider such bands, the Commission should resist calls to substantially increase the allocation to wireless microphone use,” CTIA said. “For example, granting wireless microphone access to the entire 1.4 GHz band would result in significant increase in the amount of spectrum beyond the capacity that may be lost in the 600 MHz band. In effect, such a proposal would replace capabilities present in the current regulations -- twelve megahertz of spectrum capacity -- with access to 90 megahertz.”

CLEVELAND -- ATSC President Mark Richer thinks commercial launches of ATSC 3.0 TVs and broadcast services (see 1504130028) are possible by the end of the decade, perhaps sooner, he said Thursday at field trials to showcase the LG-Zenith-GatesAir Futurecast technology proposal for ATSC 3.0. Richer was among a group of several dozen broadcast industry dignitaries, including Lynn Claudy, NAB senior vice president-technology, and ATSC Chairman Glenn Reitmeier of NBCUniversal invited to Cleveland to witness the Futurecast field trials in action.

NAB took issue with CTIA’s request for rule tweaks that would provide additional protection for LTE from wireless mics and unlicensed devices (see 1507090032), in an FCC filing. CTIA offered eight suggestions for nuts-and-bolts changes to the auction rules in its Thursday letter to the commission, posted Friday in docket 14-252.

Former House Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., now a consultant to T-Mobile, offered a revised approach to the duplex gap and reserve spectrum trigger for the TV incentive auction, said a letter posted Friday by the FCC. The FCC put the incentive auction items on its sunshine notice Thursday for this Thursday’s meeting, cutting off further lobbying efforts at the agency. All of the filings were in docket 14-252.

CTIA officials stressed in a meeting with aides to Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly the need for the FCC to give carriers the time and information they need to make informed bids in the TV incentive auction, to guarantee the success of the auction. “CTIA urged the Commission to provide sufficient inter-service interference data, including detailed information on the television stations causing potential interference well in advance of the forward auction,” CTIA said in an ex parte filing on the meeting in docket 12-268. For example, carriers need information on potential impairments “as early as possible, including preliminary data once participants in the reverse auction are known,” CTIA said. “CTIA asked that the FCC release the formats for the files it will provide bidders during the auction well before the applications are due. In addition, the Commission should ensure that its proposals do not sacrifice informed decision-making in favor of auction speed.” The CTIA officials also cited the importance of minimizing impairment of the blocks offered for sale in the auction: “While a certain degree of impairment to 600 MHz licenses is inevitable, the Commission’s originally-proposed 20 percent threshold would result in significant impairment.”

CTIA filed a letter at the FCC Thursday laying out its bottom-line advice on rules for the TV incentive auction. Headed into next week’s vote on those rules by the FCC (see 1506250057), CTIA urged a “stop buzzer” to halt harmful interference from white spaces devices and wireless mics using the 600 MHz spectrum, in the letter, and sought eight “reforms” to the rules. CTIA President Meredith Baker, a former commissioner, signed the letter.

FCC staffers are leaning on wireless carriers to endorse their proposal to put TV stations in the “duplex gap” between uplink and downlink frequencies bought by carriers, industry and FCC officials said. Broadcasters, consumer and public interest groups, and high-tech companies have lined up against the plan, which they characterize as a change from the auction rules approved by the FCC last year (see 1507070055). Pressure has been intense, but carriers for the most part have taken more of a middle-of-the-road stance, the officials said, saying the issue has emerged as the biggest hot-button issue going into a vote on the TV incentive auction rules next week (see 1506250057).

The Competitive Carriers Association, joined by Dish Network, Sprint and T-Mobile, met with FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O’Rielly to explain why the FCC should mandate a 40 MHz spectrum reserve, or 50 percent of what is auctioned, as it takes up incentive auction rules. The reserve spectrum is set aside for carriers without significant low-band holdings in a particular market. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed instead that the rules keep the 30 MHz reserve approved by the FCC last year (see 1506250057). “The spectrum reserve is the only competitive safeguard still under consideration to prevent AT&T and Verizon from using the 600 MHz auction to further consolidate their already considerable low-band spectrum holdings,” said a filing by the competitive carriers in docket 12-268. “In addition, AT&T or Verizon are reserve eligible in most of the country, including 74 percent of the nation’s geography and 40 percent of the [POPs].” CCA supports any proposal that would address concerns about the current trigger for determining when the reserve kicks in, CCA said. The currently proposed trigger “opens opportunities for gaming if the Commission pursues high clearing targets -- with attendant high clearing costs -- at the outset of the auction, but later falls back to a lower clearing target with lower clearing costs during a subsequent round,” CCA said.