The Wireless ISP Association asked the FCC to auction the upper 40 MHz of the 3.45 GHz band by county, rather than by partial economic area, in calls with aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington. Other groups also sought smaller license sizes (see 2103040061). WISPA would leave the remaining 60 GHz to be sold as PEAs. “Using county-based licenses for the upper 40-megahertz will promote greater participation in the auction by smaller providers interested in obtaining licensed mid-band spectrum for rural coverage,” WISPA said. T-Mobile urged 10 MHz rather than 20 MHz licenses and sought a simplified out-of-band emissions (OOBE) mask. Adopting citizens broadband radio service rules wouldn’t work, the carrier said. “While CBRS-style rules support lower-power operations and may have been appropriate for the 3.5 GHz band because of the need to protect incumbent radars and to address coexistence concerns, those circumstances do not apply to the 3.45 GHz band,” T-Mobile said: It wants a 40 MHz limit on buys by any bidder. New America's Open Technology Institute asked a Starks aide to model rules on those for CBRS: “CBRS is already proving that an integrated band with both licensed spectrum and shared [general authorized access], operating under common technical rules, promotes innovation, competition and more localized deployments by a wide variety of ISPs, enterprise and other institutions.” The “unique issues that led to lower power levels in the CBRS band are not present here, and allowing power levels comparable to C-band will maximize the efficient use of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band,” the Competitive Carriers Association said in a call with an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Proposed aggregation limits “will invite greater participation in the auction and promote competition by ensuring at least three licensees in each market,” CCA said. Lockheed Martin raised interference concerns for its three primary radar manufacturing and test facilities in New York and New Jersey. Filings were posted Monday in docket 19-348.

Congress and the FCC should “explore how to improve” the Telecom Act as a way to revamp “our system of universal service contributions,” acting commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in letters to Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., released Friday. The GOP leaders wrote Rosenworcel in February to raise concerns about long-term funding sustainability. The current USF funding mechanism “is based on assessments to the interstate portion of carriers’ end-user telecommunications revenues” that are “born out” of the 1996 law, Rosenworcel said. The FCC recognizes its “important responsibilities as a steward” of USF and its Wireline Bureau is exploring reinterpreting statute to allow program funding to be used for remote learning (see 2102080054). “We will be mindful” of the senators’ concerns, “including how this effort could complement other sources of funding, the need to engage in reasoned analysis by experts at the agency including the Office of Economics and Analytics, how to account for school needs in light of remote learning and re-opening plans, and how to develop smart programmatic controls,” Rosenworcel said.

Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu is joining the Biden administration as member of the National Economic Council and special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy, Wu and the White House confirmed Friday. This doesn’t mean President Joe Biden fully subscribes to Wu's support for breaking up big tech companies (see 1907160064), White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “His hiring is a reflection of the value of his expertise,” she said. “If administration policy was determined by every person that was hired, we'd have 400 different policies.” Wu was one of net neutrality’s earliest advocates and was considered a potential contender to be Biden’s pick for FTC chair (see 2101210067).

S&P addressed major C-band auction bidders Thursday. S&P moved Verizon to stable from positive based on its $45 billion in bids, noting the carrier must pay an additional $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators. Verizon's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio will likely increase to about 3.2x this year, from about 2.6x in 2020, “and will remain substantially above our 2.5x threshold for an upgrade over the next couple of years,” S&P said. AT&T bid $23.4 billion and is likely on the hook for an additional $4 billion, the firm said. S&P changed the carrier to negative from stable since its debt-to-earnings ratio is likely to rise to 4x from about 3.65x at the end of 2020. “Ongoing declines in business wireline and video due to secular and macroeconomic pressures, coupled with investments in HBO Max and potentially weak advertising trends at WarnerMedia in 2021, creates higher operating uncertainty and could result in leverage remaining at or above 3.75x through 2022,” S&P said. T-Mobile bid $9.3 billion, with an expected $1.6 billion in incentive payments, S&P said. “Despite the increase in leverage to fund the purchase of spectrum in the auction, our rating on T-Mobile is unchanged because we expect leverage will remain comfortably below our 5x downgrade threshold over the next year,” the firm said: T-Mobile has “good prospects to reduce leverage to the mid-3x area by 2023 as synergies ramp up and [Sprint] merger costs wind down, coupled with service revenue growth.”

Allowing geostationary orbit (GSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) downlinks in the 17.3-17.8 GHz band on a co-primary basis with incumbent services got satellite operator backing and wireless concerns in docket 20-330 comments posted Thursday. Hughes, Telesat, SES, Intelsat, Eutelsat, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Thales said the FSS allocations would help meet growing demand for more Ka-band downlink spectrum for high-throughput satellites. They said 17/24 GHz rules could be updated and extended to 17 GHz FSS networks. To protect incumbent direct broadcast satellite and broadcast satellite service operations, Hughes backed limiting geostationary FSS operations in the swath to low-density applications like gateways and feeder links. Inmarsat said FSS satellites that sought authorization in the 17 GHz band exponentially increased in the past 10 years, and growth will continue, with it launching Ka-band payloads on its GX6A and GX6B satellites and next three Xpress satellites over two years. Backing the NPRM, Viasat said the FCC should allow earth stations in motion to operate in the 17 GHz band in the same manner as GSO FSS earth stations and give blanket-licensed earth stations there the same level of interference protection as a conforming earth station that wasn't blanket licensed. Amazon's Kuiper urged a Further NPRM to consider allowing non-geostationary orbit FSS use of the 17.3-17.7 GHz band, saying it would "remedy the imbalance" between accessible uplink and downlink spectrum available to Ka-band systems. CTIA said it's "premature" to look at the 17 GHz allocations since it's intertwined with the 12 GHz band NPRM, and issues there haven't been considered. It said the proposed technical fixed service protections are outdated and may not protect it, and proposed FSS allocations and service rules could hurt some uses of the frequencies. AT&T urged operational requirements to protect incumbent DBS and terrestrial fixed service via such steps as wider minimum orbital spacing requirements between GSO FSS downlinks and existing and proposed incumbents' satellites and restriction of GSO FSS downlinks to gateway-type earth stations.

Uniform organizational rules that create a standard for exercise of delegated authority across FCC bureaus and offices when they dismiss procedurally defective applications for review take effect April 5, says Thursday's Federal Register. It says offices and bureaus will have clear authority to dismiss applications that don't comply with procedural requirements.

Google, NCTA and 20 others urged leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees Wednesday to address “current estimated costs to clear the 3.45 GHz band of federal users,” which “could jeopardize” FCC “ability to conduct a successful auction and meet its obligation to ensure that a wide variety of applicants have access to spectrum.” Commissioners vote March 17 on beginning an auction for early October (see 2102230065). NTIA in January estimated relocation costs “at more than $13.4 billion, meaning that the auction reserve price that bidders would have to meet in order for a successful auction would be nearly $15 billion, likely putting licenses out of reach for all but the three largest nationwide wireless operators,” stakeholders also including Comcast, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Public Knowledge, the Rural Wireless Association and Wireless ISP Association said in a letter to Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J.; and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “Wireless providers’ large financial commitments in the recent C-band auction and related build-out obligations make it all the more appropriate to encourage other sources of capital in a second mid-band spectrum auction in the same year.” Congress “should encourage the FCC to consider licensing policies akin to those adopted in the [citizens broadband radio service] CBRS band that could increase competition, lower costs for prospective new entrants, and better ensure that the benefits of 5G are enjoyed by all consumers,” the entities said. They want lawmakers to “work closely with NTIA, affected federal spectrum users, and the FCC to consider ways to refine and reduce the federal government’s relocation cost estimate.”

Q2 USF revenue will be around $9.9 billion, Universal Service Administrative Co. reported Tuesday. The sequential drop of about $163 million makes it the "lowest quarterly revenue" ever, said analyst Billy Jack Gregg. The contribution factor, as expected, will increase from 31.8% to 33.4% (see 2102010059).

The Senate confirmed Gina Raimondo as commerce secretary Tuesday in a bipartisan 84-15 vote, as expected. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota were among the Republicans who backed Raimondo, after previously voting to advance her out of committee (see 2102030065). The 15 Republicans who opposed Raimondo on the floor included Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, both of whom complained she hadn’t unequivocally ruled out the Commerce Department rolling back restrictions on Huawei and other Chinese telecom and tech firms (see 2102010069). Cruz placed a hold on Raimondo, delaying confirmation (see 2102050064). “Nominees will never be more engaged, more transparent or more forthcoming than during their confirmation process,” so Raimondo's refusal “to be any of these speaks volumes to how she would act” if confirmed, Cruz said on the floor. “There has been a rush to embrace the worst elements of the Chinese Communist Party in the Biden administration, and that includes” Raimondo. “We’re just about six weeks into the Biden presidency,” and the administration “has already been keen on lifting the restrictions on Huawei since the very first week,” Cruz said. “Where will we be six months from now? A year from now? Prohibiting the use of platforms like Huawei and safeguarding American technology from being exploited by Chinese espionage infrastructure are commonsense measures to protect American national security.” Stakeholders congratulated Raimondo, including BSA|The Software Alliance, CTIA, MPA, TechNet and USTelecom.

The Senate is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319), which includes $7.6 billion for E-rate remote learning (see 2102100061), Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday. The House OK'd it 219-212 Saturday. All House Republicans opposed the measure, as expected. The House Rules Committee decided Friday against allowing floor votes on three telecom-related amendments, including one seeking to require the FCC to “establish a priority system that prioritizes” the E-rate funding for schools and libraries in unserved and rural areas. Agriculture Committee ranking member Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., spoke during the Rules meeting for his amendment to allocate $800 million for Agriculture Department broadband programs. They were “left out” despite being “instrumental in closing this digital divide in rural America,” he said. Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said HR-1319 “meets the urgency of this moment,” citing the money as a way to “expand internet connectivity to help students and teachers without home internet access.” Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., called the measure a “hyper-partisan package” that “isn’t timely or targeted.” Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen praised it as a “welcome move to help learners of all ages.”