AT&T has done everything it can to make the TV incentive auction a failure, a year before it’s likely to start, T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham said Wednesday during a media briefing on the FCC’s proposed spectrum aggregation and incentive auction rules. AT&T in particular was in the crosshairs of competitive carriers, but broadcasters also faced sharp criticism during the briefing. The event was hosted by the New America Foundation.

Rules for the TV incentive auction must account for the growing role of unlicensed spectrum, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday. Rosenworcel is expected to make unlicensed one of her top priorities as debate of the rules gets underway on the eighth floor at the FCC (CD May 5 p1). House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, told the same WiFiForward conference unlicensed should be a top regulatory priority.

AT&T fired back at Competitive Carriers Association arguments that the FCC should tweak its spectrum aggregation rules to accommodate the low-band holdings of CCA members, while restricting bidding by Verizon and AT&T. CCA has proposed that the FCC look at the national positions of a carrier in addition to the spectrum it has in an individual market before imposing bidding limits in the TV incentive auction (CD April 30 p1). “The FCC has now proposed a set of restrictions that basically gives CCA exactly what it has demanded -- it is proposing to restrict a carrier’s participation in the 600 MHz auction based on the amount of low band spectrum it holds in its portfolio,” said AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh (http://bit.ly/1kQ7j7w). “One would think CCA would be cheering from the stands, but they are not. Why? Because the FCC’s proposal has finally forced CCA to acknowledge that there are ‘multiple examples’ ’throughout the country’ of incidences where their members already have a significant portfolio of low band spectrum. Those members would therefore be restricted under the FCC’s current proposal.” CCA wants to tilt the table to suit its purposes, Marsh said. “So, this is the world according to CCA: -- Where their members have significant low band holdings and are subject to auction restrictions, it’s an ‘unintended consequence,'” she wrote. “Where AT&T or Verizon have the same amount of low band holdings and are subject to auction restrictions, it’s because our low band holdings are ‘excessive.'"

Parts of proposed FCC rules for unlicensed use of the TV bands will be the subject of further thinking following a May 15 FCC vote on service rules for the TV incentive auction, industry officials said Friday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler likely will face pressure from his two fellow Democrats to adjust the rules to give unlicensed users greater access to the TV spectrum following the proposed 2015 auction, agency officials told us.

LOS ANGELES -- Aides to FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mignon Clyburn said they themselves were encouraged by aspects of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposed net neutrality NPRM (CD May 1 p3), they said on a panel at the Cable Show. Clyburn aide Adonis Hoffman, clarifying that he was speaking only for himself, said he is “encouraged” that Wheeler’s plan is designed to prevent a “haves and have nots scheme.” Though Pai aide Matthew Berry said those in his office believe net neutrality “is a solution in search of a problem,” he said Wheeler’s plan is more palatable than other net neutrality proposals. “We need to recognize there’s some progress being made here,” Berry said. “The ball is moving in our direction.”

Proposed spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction could mean as much as 50 percent of the spectrum offered for sale in some markets would be set aside for competitors to Verizon and AT&T and off limits to any carrier that already has a dominant sub-1 GHz spectrum position in that market, FCC and industry officials tell us.

The FCC will seek comment on the proper market-by-market “trigger point” for the TV incentive auction, after which the FCC will limit bidding by carriers that already have lots of low-band spectrum, an FCC senior official said Friday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft of the rules Thursday for a vote at the FCC’s May 15 meeting, the official confirmed, saying the only issue on which the agency plans to seek further comment is the trigger point.

AT&T and Verizon aren’t the only carriers complaining about proposed FCC spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction. U.S. Cellular said the restrictions could end up restricting its rights to bid in some markets, in a meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman and others at the agency. “Such a proposal would place U.S. Cellular at a significant disadvantage to at least three of the four national carriers in acquiring the spectrum likely necessary for the deployment of 5G technology in the next decade in its operating markets,” the carrier said (http://bit.ly/1gTXf9v). It said the rules as written would let carriers with less than 44 MHz of low-band spectrum in a market buy unlimited amounts of 600 MHz spectrum, while those with 45 MHz couldn’t buy any.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said Thursday he cannot support spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction that would freeze some carriers from bidding in some markets where they already hold licenses for substantial amounts of low-band spectrum. Pai spoke at a Mobile Future forum. Chairman Tom Wheeler planned to circulate late Thursday draft spectrum aggregation rules for a vote at the FCC’s May 15 meeting.

Broadcom warned that carrier offload, extended range hot spots and other broadband applications will be precluded unless the FCC provides unlicensed channels of at least 6 MHz with 40 mW maximum power. The “Super Wi-Fi” standard continues to be important to delivering wireless broadband services in the 600 MHz band, and the FCC should preserve white space channels wherever possible, Broadcom said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-1268(http://bit.ly/RFFlBQ). Broadcom also highlighted the standard-setting effort to establish 802.11ac, the standard that expands operations in the 5 GHz band, it said. Establishing an inadequate duplex gap and guard band “would both unnecessarily increase the risk of harmful interference to licensed services and preclude unlicensed broadband services in these frequencies,” it said. The filing recounts meetings with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, and with staff from Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office.