Dish Network urged the FCC to adopt the broadcast incentive auction band plan originally proposed by the FCC, with the modifications Dish previously identified. The commission should reject claims that routine technical concepts like intermodulation and harmonics “should justify limiting the amount of valuable low-band spectrum for auction,” it said in an ex parte filing in dockets 12-268 and 12-357 (http://bit.ly/14eoMML). Neither intermodulation nor harmonics has served as a basis for limiting the amount of spectrum available “to provide broadband or cellular service and should not now be a basis to limit the availability of low-band spectrum in the 600 MHz auction,” it said. Dish also reiterated support for a holistic approach to the upcoming spectrum auctions of the H block, 600 MHz spectrum and AWS-3 bands. Given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4, “it is unlikely Dish will choose to meaningfully participate in the upcoming auction of the H block,” Dish said. The filing recounted a meeting with Commissioner Ajit Pai and his staff.

Verizon Wireless executives questioned the logic of placing restrictions on bidding by any carrier in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum in a meeting with FCC staff, including Gary Epstein, head of the Incentive Auction Task Force (http://bit.ly/1dXfQCq). “We noted that proposals to restrict Verizon’s and AT&T’s ability to participate in the Incentive Auction lack a factual foundation,” the carrier said in the ex parte filing. “For example, firms advocating bidding restrictions for Verizon and AT&T provide no evidence that they would be unable to acquire 600 MHz spectrum in the auction in the absence of such restrictions. Nor do they assert that they have been unable to acquire the spectrum they need in other auctions or in the secondary market.” Restrictions would also “artificially constrain demand,” the Verizon representatives said. “This, in turn, would prevent prices from rising to the levels they would under real demand conditions in an open bidding process.”

The FCC’s efforts to create an “E-rate 2.0” will give students “the opportunity to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter who they are, where they live, or where they go to school,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Monday at a Senate Communications Subcommittee field hearing in Little Rock, Ark. “We need to protect what we have already done, build on it, and put this program on a course to provide higher speeds and greater opportunities in the days ahead,” she said. The hearing was meant to examine ways to improve broadband, wireless and wireline communications in Arkansas (CD Aug 16 p12). Rosenworcel and Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., were also expected to discuss the importance of affordable Internet access in schools during a meeting later Monday with Cabot, Ark., public school officials. The FCC issued an NPRM on E-rate reforms last month (CD July 22 p1). E-rate 2.0 “must be built on clear capacity goals,” with a requirement that every school have access to 100 Mbps per 1,000 students by the 2015 school year and 1 Gbps per 1,000 students by the end of the decade, Rosenworcel said. Libraries should have capacity on-par with the school capacity requirements, she said. The FCC should phase down the $600 million it spends on “outdated services” like paging and use those funds to fund additional high-capacity broadband, Rosenworcel said. The FCC also needs to simplify the E-rate application process based on input from stakeholders, Rosenworcel said. The NPRM seeks input on whether multi-year applications are feasible, and seeks ways to encourage more use of consortia applications, she said. Verizon has “invested in Arkansas,” including a Verizon Foundation-provided $50,000 grant to the Cotter, Ark., school district to support adapting broadband to support science, technology, engineering and math education, said David Russell, Verizon vice president-external affairs for its South region. AT&T has invested $480 million in Arkansas over the last four years, and is continuing to “build out and deliver these state-of-the-art, cutting-edge broadband technologies to Arkansas customers,” said AT&T Arkansas President Edward Drilling. Representatives from Comcast, Cox Communications and Suddenlink all said they have partnered in Connect2Compete, a program that offers low-cost Internet access to the families of children who participate in the Free School Lunch Program. Comcast’s Internet Essentials broadband adoption program has helped connect 750 eligible Arkansas families to the Internet, said Mike Wilson, Comcast senior director-government affairs. Len Pitcock, Cox director-government affairs for Arkansas, said the government should “focus its efforts in Arkansas and around the country on increasing broadband adoption through existing broadband providers rather than using taxpayer dollars to fund network construction and overbuilds in areas where broadband service is already available.” Suddenlink’s investments have allowed it to increase its broadband download speeds to 50 Mbps and 107 Mbps in Arkansas, said LaDawn Fuhr, Suddenlink manager-community and government relations for the mid-South. Other FCC initiatives will also benefit communications in Arkansas, with the 600 MHz spectrum that will be made available in the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction being “well-suited for rural applications,” Rosenworcel said. “It has great propagation characteristics because it can cover vast distances with limited tower construction.” Recent FCC overhauls to the USF allowed the agency to distribute additional funds from the Connect America Fund for price cap carriers -- and the FCC “should be willing to make further changes when doing so simplifies our rules, does not break our budget, and brings better service and more investment to rural communities -- Arkansas included,” Rosenworcel said. The FCC’s Healthcare Connect Fund will aid in the development of telemedicine, which will “connect rural healthcare institutions,” she said. The Healthcare Connect Fund will allow eligible healthcare providers to apply to receive funding to cover 65 percent of the cost of broadband services or healthcare provider-owned networks.

T-Mobile’s proposed “dynamic market rule” for limiting bidding in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum won’t work and should not be adopted by the FCC, AT&T said in a report filed at the agency Wednesday (http://bit.ly/19tFy27). AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh explained the carrier’s objection in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1d7U2ni). “The purported advantage of low band spectrum -- that it allows more coverage and better building penetration with fewer cell sites -- has been overtaken by marketplace realities under which capacity not coverage drives network deployment,” Marsh said. “Carriers deploying low band and high band spectrum alike must squeeze as many cell sites as they can into their networks to meet exploding demand for data services.” Marsh also argued that “to the extent this is less the case in rural areas, those areas are not spectrum-constrained and the lower cost of building out low band spectrum in such areas is offset by the higher cost of the spectrum itself.” T-Mobile fired back. “Without adequate competitive safeguards, there is nothing to stop the largest two carriers from walking away with all the 600 MHz low-band spectrum,” said Vice President Kathleen Ham, in an email. “Such an outcome would be bad for consumers and bad for competition in the wireless broadband marketplace. The two dominant carriers already control nearly 80 percent of low-band spectrum. Reasonable spectrum concentration limits at auction, combined with sound auction-design features such as the Dynamic Market Rule, will promote competition, encourage innovation and increase consumer choice, without harming auction revenue.”

Imposing limits on how much spectrum any carrier can buy in the incentive auction could depress revenue and discourage broadcasters from offering their spectrum for sale, Free State Foundation Visiting Fellow Gregory Vogt said Tuesday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/14Tobh). “The need to allocate more spectrum for mobile broadband has achieved rare, near unanimity in Washington,” Vogt wrote. “As the FCC implements the 600 MHz band incentive auction, however, there is a lot of chatter concerning limiting eligibility to bid on the voluntarily contributed broadcast spectrum. Achieving a ‘yes’ on the incentive auction bargain must include rejecting such limitations because they are antithetical to the reverse auction bargain and violate free market principles."

FCC Chairman nominee Tom Wheeler will play a critical role in whether the agency should impose some kind of limits on how much 600 MHz spectrum any carrier can buy in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, said numerous industry executives and former commission officials.

Gary Epstein, head of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force, Friday laid out in more detail than before the commission’s next steps on an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. Commissioner Ajit Pai warned that if the FCC doesn’t get repacking rules right, the auction could be a bust.

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force said the FCC plans a webinar to provide additional information about commission proposals for software to chart repacking for the auction of broadcast TV spectrum (http://fcc.us/179qyR6). The auction team is to offer commissioners an update on auction progress on Friday at the commission meeting. The FCC released basic information on the software July 22 (http://bit.ly/1evw7Mw). Industry officials said Thursday there’s still widespread confusion about the software and many questions remain. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel (CD June 28 p6) and Ajit Pai (CD July 26 p1) have both said the FCC should do all it can, including more outreach, to move toward an incentive auction next year. “T-Mobile appreciates the FCC moving forward on the broadcast incentive auction by providing important information related to repacking broadcast stations -- a key component for maximizing the amount of spectrum available and making the 600 MHz incentive auction a robust opportunity for wireless broadband,” said T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham. “We're pleased the FCC is being deliberative to ensure the software necessary to support the auction and the repacking process is fully developed and understood by engaging all interested parties."

Dish Network urged the FCC to take a holistic approach to the upcoming auctions of the H block, 600 MHz spectrum and AWS-3 bands. Given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4, “we conveyed that it is unlikely Dish will choose to meaningfully participate in the upcoming auction of the H block,” it said in an ex parte filing in dockets 12-268, 12-357 and 13-185 (http://bit.ly/175HmIG). The filing recounted a meeting last week with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her aide David Goldman. The commission’s proposal to designate the lower J block for uplink use “would make future J-block operations vulnerable to significant interference from adjacent federal government and broadcast auxiliary service users above 2025 MHz,” it said.

Claims that there’s an “industry consensus” for a 600 MHz band plan are “premature,” said Dish Network representatives in a meeting Thursday with aides to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filing Monday (http://bit.ly/1c7GOsF). Though AT&T and Verizon have both recommended a “Down from 51” band plan, Dish said the two companies’ plans have several differences, and the DBS provider favors a third choice, a “Down from 51 without Supplemental Downlink (SDL)” plan. Dish’s plan has “a common paired downlink and uplink block” which it said will motivate smaller carriers to participate in the incentive auction and “maximize the total revenue.” The “Down from 51 without SDL” plan would also give carriers more certainty in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) global standings setting process, Dish said. Paired uplink and downlink “facilitates the adoption of a common 3GPP band, resulting in better standards harmonization and economies of scale for handsets and other equipment,” Dish said. In the 700 MHz band, the commission shouldn’t change the authorized power levels for the lower 700 MHz E block as it adopts 700 MHz interoperability rules, Dish said. “Any changes to the service rules for the E-block post-auction will upset Dish’s legitimate, investment-backed expectations for use of this spectrum, jeopardize Dish’s investment and business plans, and may be considered an unauthorized partial revocation of Dish’s license,” said the company. It’s “unlikely” Dish will “meaningfully participate” in the H-block auction “given the current regulatory requirements for H block and AWS-4,” Dish said. Dish also said a recent commission proposal to designate the lower J block for uplink would make future operations there “vulnerable to significant interference from adjacent Federal government and Broadcast Auxiliary Service users above 2025 MHz."