T-Mobile representatives cautioned about an FCC proposal to put the brakes on joint bidding arrangements in the TV incentive auction (see 1506250057). FCC Wireless Bureau staff “explained their recommendations … to limit joint bidding arrangements among nationwide carriers as well as among nationwide and non-nationwide carriers in the upcoming 600 MHz auction,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-170. “T-Mobile cautioned against adoption of overly broad and ambiguous joint bidding restrictions that could have unintended negative consequences for a robust auction by limiting the ability of smaller bidders to raise capital against well-heeled dominant carriers.”

CTIA and member companies asked the FCC to “engage” with potential bidders in the TV incentive auction in an “iterative, collaborative” process aimed at helping them understand the data the FCC will provide during the auction. The industry representatives met with FCC officials Wednesday to discuss their concerns, said an ex parte filing Monday in docket 12-268. The FCC “should adopt frameworks that speed deployment and promote bidder confidence,” CTIA said. “For example, 600 MHz licensees should be permitted to conduct pre-deployment testing of licensed spectrum without any encumbrances from secondary users of the spectrum as soon as possible and should not be required to provide ongoing notifications to secondary operations once a licensee has initiated transmissions.” CTIA also asked the FCC to clarify the scope of a requirement on what would trigger additional inter-service interference analyses and “fully disclose any potential impairment associated with this process,” the filing said. “For example, 600 MHz licensees should not be required to conduct extensive analyses of interference effects if proposed mobile network modifications would not increase the interference potential to a broadcast station.”

There's broad industry agreement that the FCC should minimize the intentional placement of U.S. TV stations in the 600 MHz band as part of the TV incentive auction repacking, an AT&T official said in various meetings at the FCC. “As the record confirms, repacking U.S.-based television stations into the 600 MHz band will significantly degrade the quality of the adjacent licenses for mobile wireless use, both within the same market and in geographically adjacent markets,” AT&T said in a filing in docket 14-252. Doing so would reduce the value of licenses sold to carriers in the forward part of the auction, AT&T said. The impairments also would “force the Commission to offer non-generic licenses under circumstances in which bidders cannot know during the forward auction which licenses they will ultimately receive, and that uncertainty will cause bidders to further reduce their bids,” the carrier said. The filing was signed by Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure and T-Mobile CEO John Legere are duking it out on Twitter. Meanwhile, Verizon and AT&T both attacked T-Mobile Thursday in blog posts, both on the TV incentive auction. Claure tweeted Tuesday about Sprint’s new unlimited data plan (see 1507010011). “We heard you loud and clear and we are removing the 600 kbps on streaming video,” Claure said, under the hashtag “Allin.”

Test results by consultant V-Comm show major interference issues if white space devices and wireless mics are allowed to use the 600 MHz guard band or duplex gap after the TV incentive auction, said CTIA officials and representatives of member companies in a meeting with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. According to an ex parte filing in docket 12-268, "CTIA explained the incentive auction represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Commission to make available much-needed spectrum for mobile broadband use and noted the wireless industry’s willingness to invest in spectrum rights so long as those spectrum rights are afforded the interference protections mandated by Congress in the 2012 Spectrum Act.” The industry representatives also stressed the need for the FCC “to increase out-of-band emission and frequency separation as outlined in V-COMM’s report,” the filing said. Carriers need certainty and the current rules "threaten to undermine the success of the incentive auction," CTIA said.

Two House Republicans warned the FCC not to restrict participation in spectrum auctions. “We strongly oppose any rule changes that would depress participation in the upcoming incentive auction for 600 MHz [of] broadcast TV spectrum,” said Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a letter sent Friday. They blasted the idea of “greater set-asides” than the FCC has already specified. They also said the FCC needs to further overhaul the designated entity rules. The FCC should be “guided by a simple principle: A small business program must serve small businesses and not become a forum for corporate welfare,” they said. “But real small businesses who are building mobile broadband to serve their communities do not have deep pockets, and placing too high a cap on bidding credits is only likely to encourage speculators and others more interested in profiting from this government program rather than deploying new broadband infrastructure and creating real competition.”

A variable band plan is “poor long-term spectrum policy,” said NAB at a June 22 meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and commission staff, according to an ex parte filing. “The negative effects of variability will not be felt in the near term, but only down the line when a future Commission is required to manage the challenges posed by broadcasters and wireless operators attempting to serve consumers on the same frequencies in the 600 MHz band.” The interference challenges are similar to the problems with the 700 MHz A block due to its proximity to TV Channel 51, NAB said. Relocating TV stations in the duplex gap in certain markets “will wipe out licensed wireless microphone use for breaking news purposes in those areas,” NAB said. The proposal is “the result of a singular focus on auction design and not on the resulting landscape after the auction,” NAB said in the filing posted Thursday to docket 14-252. “Broadcasters that were already struggling to figure out how to cover breaking news and emergencies on just 4 MHz of spectrum will be further hampered.”

T-Mobile launched a late campaign to get the FCC to change course and approve a larger reserve spectrum set aside in the TV incentive auction. T-Mobile is asking the public to get involved and use social media to put pressure on the FCC before its July 16 meeting to approve a spectrum reserve larger than the 30 MHz set aside for competitors last year. FCC officials told industry groups in briefings last week that Chairman Tom Wheeler asked the agency to reject that proposal in the order set for a vote in July, industry and agency officials have said (see 1506170052).

The FCC is starting to brief stakeholders on two key TV incentive auction items teed up for a vote at its July 16 meeting, industry officials told us Wednesday. Briefings have started on the auction procedures public notice and the spectrum holdings order to be circulated by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the officials said. One key takeaway from the briefings is that T-Mobile lost in its push to get the FCC to up the ante on a May 2014 proposal and increase the amount of reserve spectrum set aside in each market for companies with comparatively little low-band spectrum -- in many cases the competitors to AT&T and Verizon, industry sources said.

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., want the FCC to establish “the necessary technical rules to support the nationwide availability of unlicensed spectrum within the 600 MHz band,” they said in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday. They pointed to the broader goals of Congress in passing the Spectrum Act. “We’re concerned that the FCC is now under pressure to undo this proposal.” The FCC should keep in mind congressional intent when amending Part 15 rules, they said.