Trade groups and companies that favor spectrum aggregation limits in the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum met with Louis Peraertz, aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Almond, chief of staff at the Wireless Bureau, to press their case. “This group of public interest organizations, trade associations, and competitive carriers discussed the attached slides [http://bit.ly/1aUXQXU], which explain the importance of promoting competition and preventing excessive spectrum aggregation in the upcoming 600 MHz incentive auction,” said a Friday ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/17Iax9F). “Adopting a spectrum aggregation limit for this auction will promote investment and innovation, encourage auction participation, enhance consumer choice, and create the potential for higher auction revenue.” Among the groups represented were the Competitive Carriers Association, Rural Telecommunications Group, NTCA, New America Foundation and the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Carriers represented included Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and C Spire Wireless. Dish Network also had a representative at the meeting.

BRUSSELS -- The 700 MHz band will likely be harmonized globally for mobile broadband services at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015 but under three different band plans, speakers said Wednesday at a Forum Europe spectrum management conference. The goal of WRC-15 is to coordinate use of the 700 MHz and other bands, but the Radio Regulations don’t deal with band plans, Joaquin Restrepo, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau head of outreach and publication services division, said. If the 700 MHz band is coordinated for wireless uses, but there are separate band plans for the U.S./Canada, China and the rest of the world under the Asia-Pacific band plan, then economies of scale, roaming and interoperability will suffer, he said.

FCC staff are working behind the scenes on rules for the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, even as it remains unclear when Tom Wheeler will be confirmed as chairman of the FCC, agency and industry officials say. While approval of auction rules will likely have to wait for Wheeler, the staff working on the auction is expected to do what they can in coming months, so they can present the new chairman with various options on the rules, including on the 600 MHz band plan, for quick decision once he arrives.

"The way the dynamic market rule would work is simple,” said T-Mobile Vice President Tony Russo Monday during a call with reporters. “The auction first would run with a procompetitive limit in place. If the FCC revenue target is met, the auction is complete. If the total bids are short of the revenue target then the spectrum limit is gradually relaxed until the revenue targets are met or until the limit is gone altogether.” The rule would “allow the market to test whether competitive spectrum limits impact revenues."

Intel miscalculated the “level of congestion” in the UHF band above Channel 37 in comments filed in the incentive auction proceeding, said NAB in an ex parte filing Thursday (http://bit.ly/13Yciuq). T-Mobile later used the same bad data in its own filings, said NAB. “The result inadvertently distorts the breadth of the challenge of repacking broadcasters.” The inaccurate filings demonstrate “how little is commonly understood about the task of relocating broadcasters who do not participate in the auction,” NAB said. In a study filed in docket 12-268 in March (http://bit.ly/WKg7Dl), Intel said 98 percent of TV markets have three or fewer stations above Channel 37, which NAB said suggests that the 600 MHz band is much clearer than it really is. “More than one-third of all full power and Class A TV stations (602 out of 1702 stations) in the UHF band are located above channel 37,” NAB said. Instead of basing its study on DMAs, Intel used each station’s city of license as its market, leading to “nonsensical results,” according to NAB. “The more appropriate approach would consider the effect of repacking through a DMA lens,” said NAB. The Intel study “considers Florida stations licensed to Leesburg and Melbourne to be in different markets despite the fact that the stations are located at the same transmitter site,” said NAB. The Intel study also contained “the head-scratching conclusion that Fairbanks, Alaska, is the most congested TV market in the nation,” NAB said. Intel said in an email Friday that its study is “directly derived from the FCC’s own database of broadcasters” and that it had discussions with NAB about the study before filing it that “generated no objections to use of the same FCC city-aggregated data.” Intel also said it concedes in its filing that “rigorous analysis of adjacent market interference will be necessary” to create a working band plan. The data from the Intel study were referenced by T-Mobile in reply comments filed in 12-286 earlier this month (http://bit.ly/11GXoVg). “According to Intel’s analysis, in 59 percent of markets, there are no broadcast television channels above Channel 37,” said T-Mobile in comments outlining its proposals for a 600 MHz bandplan. “Obviously, in those markets, 84 MHz can be made available without clearing or repacking any broadcasters at all,” said T-Mobile. T-Mobile did not comment. NAB said the record needed to be corrected so the communications industry and the commission can “work from the same page to properly analyze and address the enormous challenge of repacking and relocating broadcasters.”

FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman questioned in a blog post Friday whether there is a “consensus” industry band plan for the 600 MHz band. The FCC has been under some fire since the bureau released a public notice last month (CD May 21 p4) on alternatives to the “Down from 51 plan,” which had carrier and broadcaster support and raises a handful of other issues as well.

Globalstar said research firm Jarvinian’s testing of TLPS, “an innovative wireless broadband technology using new carrier-grade equipment manufactured by Ruckus Wireless,” shows that use of the technology results in “a carrier-grade service that vastly exceeds the performance of public Wi-Fi.” The tests were conducted on a 22 MHz channel using 2.4 GHz spectrum, under an experimental license from the FCC, Globalstar said in a news release. In November, Globalstar filed a petition at the FCC asking to use its licensed Mobile Satellite Service spectrum terrestrially to support mobile broadband applications throughout the U.S. (http://bit.ly/18Wwpyu). “With almost 600,000 mobile satellite service customers, Globalstar remains committed to its satellite business while pursuing additional opportunities to offer innovative new mobile broadband services such as TLPS,” said Globalstar CEO Jay Monroe. “That commitment is clearly demonstrated in our completion of the launch of a new satellite constellation, our introduction to the market of new satellite-based products and services, and my personal financial commitment to turn our plans into reality.” The test results are at http://bit.ly/19NDIbe.

No one supports a “down from 51 reversed” 600 MHz band plan, as proposed in the FCC Wireless Bureau in a May 17 public notice, CTIA said in comments filed at the commission. CEA offered a similar critique. The bureau also sought comment on a proposal to rely on TDD instead of FDD, which has been proposed by Sprint Nextel. The notice dominated incentive auction discussions at CTIA the following week, and with comments due at the commission Friday, it got little industry love.

"The consensus ‘Down From 51’ band plan proposed by a broad cross-section of wireless providers, broadcasters, and equipment manufacturers maximizes the public interest benefits of the 600 MHz spectrum and should be adopted without significant revision,” Mobile Future said Friday in a filing at the FCC on the commission’s controversial 600 MHz band plan public notice by the Wireless Bureau. “While the Bureau should be applauded for a clear focus on the need for a viable 600 MHz band plan, the recent Public Notice introduces additional uncertainty and undermines the growing consensus behind the ‘Down From 51’ approach,” Mobile Future said (http://bit.ly/163LYzf). “Specifically, the modifications to the consensus proposal suggested in the Bureau’s Public Notice raise engineering and policy concerns. The Commission should adopt the consensus band plan without significant alteration and dedicate its finite resources to other technical and engineering challenges facing a successful incentive auction."

An FCC Wireless Bureau public notice on the 600 MHz band plan doesn’t sufficiently deal with the problem of co-channel interference -- “one of the most critical unresolved elements” of the band plan -- said the NAB in a comment filed Friday (http://bit.ly/12LPFfS). The NAB said the commission can’t use a variable plan like the ones suggested in the PN without resolving “the interference implications of broadcasters and wireless carriers operating on co- and adjacent channels in neighboring markets under a variable band approach.” The NAB said both options explored in the notice -- a reverse “down from 51” plan and a time division duplex (TDD) plan -- threaten to “cause widespread harmful interference to both broadcast and wireless operations in the 600 MHz” and could threaten the success of the auction. However, of the two plans in the PN, NAB said it favored the reverse “down from 51” plan, “if the Commission is intent on proceeding with a variable plan.” In a co-blog post with AT&T and Verizon, NAB has previously endorsed a “down from 51” plan,” which it says is the industry consensus (CD May 22 p4). The NAB said the Wireless Bureau must “rigorously evaluate” co-channel interference if it intends to pursue a variable plan. “The band plan options introduced in the Notice skirt this issue entirely, evidently favoring academic economic flexibility over real-world engineering,” said NAB.