ORLANDO -- The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates approved resolutions at its annual meeting Tuesday on the need for fair policies in the upcoming incentive auction and giving VoIP providers direct access to phone numbers. The IP transition dominated the telecom discussions at the NASUCA meeting, with panels on who controls the IP transition and Verizon’s Voice Link service on Fire Island, N.Y., and the New Jersey barrier islands.

Competitive wireless carriers led by Sprint, T-Mobile, Dish Network and C Spire sent new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler a letter Thursday stressing the importance of spectrum aggregation limits during the upcoming incentive TV auction. “None of us fears competition,” the companies said. “Consumers benefit from the give-and-take of the competitive market. But to ensure those benefits keep flowing, it is vitally important that the two dominant wireless incumbents not be allowed to lock competitive carriers out of acquiring low-band spectrum in the upcoming 600 MHz auction. That result would disserve the public interest by fundamentally undermining the wireless industry competition that has served our nation so well.” AT&T and Verizon already control almost 80 percent of sub-1 GHz spectrum, the letter said. “They have economic incentives to acquire the remaining low-band spectrum in the 600 MHz band to stop our companies -- their competitors -- from offering truly sustainable, competitive wireless broadband service across America.”

AT&T and T-Mobile have long been at odds over spectrum aggregation limits in the incentive auction of TV spectrum, but both companies found something to agree on this week: that the FCC should at least examine caps in the 700 MHz auction in New Zealand. T-Mobile initially cited the auction as evidence in support of its arguments for limits in the incentive auction (http://bit.ly/1d52UJ4). AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh said there are stark differences between the New Zealand rules and limits sought by T-Mobile. “T-Mobile seeks a limit on all low band spectrum holdings, not just the spectrum newly available at auction,” Marsh wrote in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1biQQma). “New Zealand crafted generally applicable limits that apply only to the spectrum being sold.” T-Mobile’s proposal would also “skew the auction in its favor by limiting only those bidders that exceed its newly-proposed low band cap -- namely AT&T and Verizon Wireless,” Marsh said. “By contrast, New Zealand’s approach treats all bidders equally by imposing a limit on the amount of spectrum any one bidder can acquire.” On Friday, T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham responded on her company’s blog. “AT&T this week acknowledged for the first time that, indeed, it is comfortable with upfront spectrum caps for auctions,” she said (http://bit.ly/1c5Y2lR). “That represents huge progress for AT&T, which has been arguing for months against any limits for the upcoming 600 MHz low-band auction. Although AT&T takes a shot at the filing that pointed out that New Zealand has joined most of the industrialized world in using aggregation limits in spectrum auctions to promote competition, spur innovation and stimulate economic growth, the key take-way from Joan Marsh’s blog is that upfront auction caps, if applied in a fair, nondiscriminatory manner, would be acceptable.”

The FCC has not taken the controversial “Down from 51” reverse band plan for the 600 MHz band plan off the table completely, but has backed away from it because that variation doesn’t have much support, said Gary Epstein, head of the commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force. The agency is getting set to release several public notices on rules for the auction of TV spectrum, but industry should expect many calls to be a made in a single, major order, he told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. “We're going to do our best to do this right and it’s going to be successful."

CEA and the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition released a paper Monday from former FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Fred Campbell that says they too have concerns about imposing spectrum aggregation limits in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. The fight had mostly been between AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which oppose any limits, and such smaller carriers as T-Mobile and Sprint that say some limits are needed to guarantee a competitive auction.

Even “the mildest” restrictions limiting AT&T’s and Verizon Wireless’s participation in the incentive TV auction would cost the federal treasury billions of dollars in lost revenue, argues a new economic analysis of the auction by three economists who studied the issue on behalf of AT&T. “More severe restrictions, which might result in de facto exclusion of AT&T and Verizon from the auction, would magnify this loss, implying auction revenue reductions of between $13.4 billion and $26.8 billion, depending on the quantity of spectrum ultimately sold,” the paper said. “Our analysis ignores the fact that lower auction revenue may result in a smaller quantity of spectrum cleared due to the structure of the 600 MHz auction; this would further increase the adverse effect on the Federal budget.” Other parties that urge spectrum aggregation limits for the auction argue that fewer competitors would be offset by more bidding by smaller carriers, the paper said. “We estimate that the number of bidders outside the ‘big four’ (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile) would need to increase by roughly 150 percent to offset the adverse effects arising from even the least aggressive restrictions on auction participation under consideration.” The paper was authored by Philip Haile of Yale and Maya Meidan and Jonathan Orszag of Compass Lexecon. “Prompt, successful completion of the 600 MHz auctions is essential to the continued health and growth of the U.S. broadband wireless marketplace,” AT&T said in a letter submitting the study to the FCC. “The self-interested proposals for auction participation restrictions plainly threaten that outcome, and they should be rejected.” “It is quite appropriate that this study came out today -- it is nothing more than a distracting Halloween trick concocted by AT&T,” said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association. “AT&T hopes these self-serving findings will allow them to continue to aggregate spectrum in and out of the auction room and eliminate competition. No one has ever suggested that AT&T and Verizon should be excluded from participating in the 600 MHz auction. In fact, we want them to participate, so they can participate in the wireless ecosystem. I'm also not surprised that AT&T does not contemplate the entrance of new competitors who may be discouraged from participating absent any competitive safeguards.” T-Mobile also fired back. “In its latest submission in the 600 MHz incentive auction docket, AT&T contends that any attempt to put consumer benefit above AT&T’s balance sheet will lead to disaster,” said T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham. “AT&T is wrong again. Encouraging participation from more bidders will increase auction revenues. But without reasonable spectrum-aggregation limits on the two dominant incumbents, both consumers and revenues will suffer.”

A Nov. 8 FCC workshop on unlicensed spectrum and the incentive auction of TV spectrum will start with remarks by Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp, followed by two panels. Panel one takes on the benefits and uses of unlicensed spectrum, panel two the technical aspects of unlicensed operations in the 600 MHz band. The workshop is 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EST at FCC headquarters (http://bit.ly/Hh59hT).

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will never forget day one of the partial shutdown of the government, she told a sold-out FCBA lunch audience Tuesday. “I pull into the building and there’s a giant sign that tells you that the agency is closed, and please go away. So it was quiet. And the quiet became eerie. And by the second week, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see tumbleweeds in the halls.” Her conversation with FCBA President Joe Di Scipio covered the gamut of communication policy, as Rosenworcel offered her opinions on everything from foreign ownership (it’s time for a fresh look), to the IP transition (she’s in favor of trials), to her favorite app (anything that keeps her children quiet on a plane).

Expanding the ability of consumers to offload their data needs onto Wi-Fi is a better way to address the “spectrum crunch” than auctioning off wireless bands, said New America Foundation Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese at an NCTA presentation on his cable spectrum report (http://bit.ly/bRNbEs) which was published by Time Warner Cable (CD Oct 10 p14). The report urges policymakers to prioritize the release of unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi use to accommodate consumers’ increasing data needs, which he said can’t be met with licensed spectrum alone. “Clearing spectrum for auction takes too long, it’s too expensive and at best delays the inevitable transition to small cells” and other ways of moving data, said Calabrese.

Broadcast lawyer John Hane warned Tuesday that the incentive auction could fail if the FCC doesn’t get things right. “There are many, many, many paths to failure and only a fairly narrow set of paths to success,” said Hane of Pillsbury Winthrop during a panel at an Institute for Policy Innovation conference.