The 600 MHz band plans proposed in a FCC Wireless Bureau public notice would promote competition among carriers and lead to more revenue for federal coffers than the plan endorsed by Commissioner Ajit Pai, NAB, AT&T and Verizon, representatives of several public interest groups said last week. Consumer Federation of America Research Director Mark Cooper and Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld told us the “down from 51” plan endorsed by Pai, and by NAB and the two carriers in a joint blog post Wednesday (CD May 22 p4), would require higher relocation costs and lead to a concentration of the best spectrum in the hands of a few large companies. That’s as compared to the plans outlined in the May 17 public notice, said Cooper and Feld.

The 600 MHz band plan endorsed by the NAB, AT&T and Verizon is the one most likely to reduce revenue to the U.S. Treasury, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld, in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC Thursday (http://bit.ly/16VDKNL). According to the letter, in a meeting Tuesday with Wireless Bureau staff, Feld said there is no consensus in favor of the “down from 51” plan, contrary to a statement by Commissioner Ajit Pai (CD May 21 p4) and a blog post Wednesday from the NAB, AT&T and Verizon endorsing that plan (CD May 22 p4). “Pai ignored objections to the AT&T/VZ/NAB plan and support from consumer groups (including Public Knowledge), competitors such as Sprint, or tech companies such as Microsoft,” said Feld in a post from his own blog, which is also referenced in the ex parte (http://bit.ly/13Mx7pT). Feld commended the Wireless Bureau for issuing a rulemaking notice to explore the different band plans. “The Public Notice issued by the Bureau enhances transparency and facilitates a full exploration of all possible approaches and their respect tradeoffs, creating a richer and more robust record for any ultimate decision by the Commission,” said Feld. Feld also spoke with Wireless Bureau staff about market variability and TV white spaces. “The problem in rural areas is not a dearth of licensed spectrum, but economic circumstances that make licensed wireless unprofitable,” Feld said. “Reclaiming vast amounts of rural broadcast spectrum would starve TVWS [TV White Spaces] and thus worsen, rather than alleviate, the problem of rural wireless broadband.” Feld said confining rural broadband to spectrum that isn’t used in large markets would make it difficult for licensees to purchase equipment, and they “would therefore face the problem faced by rural 700 MHz A and B block licensees denied interoperability today.” However, Feld said market variability could also prevent broadcasters from holding out for higher spectrum prices in the most congested markets.

LAS VEGAS -- Industry executives at CTIA’s annual meeting said it’s crunch time, as the FCC moves forward on developing rules for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, which could start as early as next year. Carrier and other industry officials said the industry’s anxiety level over the auction rose a little Friday with release of the 600 MHz band plan public notice (CD May 17 p1). None of the issues facing the FCC are looking easier to solve as work on auction rules go forward, they said.

T-Mobile US has enough spectrum to last the next 3-4 years, but will “remain opportunistic when presented with an opportunity to acquire spectrum that will add to/complement its portfolio,” Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche reported two of the carrier’s executives said during a dinner the investment bank hosted Monday for investors. David Mayo, senior vice president-technology, and Nils Paellmann, vice president-investor relations, said the carrier prefers low-band spectrum between 600 MHz and 800 MHz, but would “not rule out wanting more AWS spectrum,” Fritzsche said in an email to investors. T-Mobile remains active with its rollout of fiber to its towers, with 35,000 of its 51,000 total cell sites now having fiber drawn to them, Fritzsche said. T-Mobile is also pleased with its porting trend since closing the MetroPCS merge deal, particularly its ability to capture customer share from AT&T, Fritzsche said.

LAS VEGAS -- FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said it’s time for the agency to recognize reality and start to lay out some of the key rules for the upcoming incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, starting with the band plan. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who also spoke Wednesday at CTIA, said the FCC is “still at the beginning of a long haul” but the 600 MHz band plan itself must be ready by Q3. “All good deliberations must come to an end,” she said. The FCC on Friday, as CTIA’s annual show was about to begin, released a public notice suggesting more alternative versions of a band plan. On Tuesday, NAB, Verizon and AT&T said the FCC’s proposals show a “disconnect” between the commission and industry (CD May 22 p4).

The FCC’s proposed plan for the 600 MHz band shows a “disconnect” between the commission and the wireless and broadcast industries, said AT&T, Verizon and NAB in a joint blog post featured on all three entities’ websites Tuesday (http://bit.ly/191hcK7). Echoing comments by Commissioner Ajit Pai on Friday’s public notice requesting comment on the band plan (CD May 20 p4), the three said the FCC proposals of a reversed “down from 51 plan” and a time division duplex (TDD) plan fly in the face of “hundreds of pages of comments” and two industry consensus letters. “The first has absolutely no support in the record and the second adopts a technological approach contrary to the one proposed by the majority of U.S. carriers,” they said. An FCC official responded that the PN was intended to “expand the record” on the ways “various band plans can deal with market variation so that we avoid a ‘least common denominator’ effect that could limit overall spectrum recovery and revenue generation."

LAS VEGAS -- One of the key tenants behind the FCC’s incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, as rules evolve, appears to be “fungibility,” said FCC and industry officials watching the process closely. Under the theory of the auction, being developed by economists at Stanford University and elsewhere, officials say, carriers won’t bid for a specific block of spectrum but for an amount in a given market. The possibility of fungible blocks got considerable attention at the FCC’s recent 600 MHz band plan workshop (CD May 6 p1). Critics question whether the concept makes sense and will prove workable, in the end, since all spectrum is not created equal and different blocks come with different issues depending on where they are in the 600 MHz band -- how close to broadcast operations and the guard bands.

The FCC Wireless Bureau released a public notice exploring possible changes to the band plan for 600 MHz after an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, over the “serious concerns” of Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai. Comments are due June 14, replies June 28, said the Friday notice.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said work on the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum is moving forward as well as could be expected. Genachowski is pleased the agency has launched a critical debate headed into an auction that could start as early as next year, he said in an interview Friday as he prepared to leave the commission. Genachowski, a friend of President Barack Obama, chaired the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Policy Working Group during the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, and has been on the job since June 2009.

With FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski set to leave the agency Friday, the Wireless Bureau is expected to release a public notice that explores various band plans for the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. Genachowski also circulated this week, among other items, an order approving Progeny’s proposal to launch its E-911 location service in 902-928 MHz spectrum, and a public notice asking questions about the next wireless competition report. Agency staff said they have been flooded with calls at the same time as their desks were flooded with items circulated by the chairman.