Spectrum auctions could address public safety, broadband deployment and deficit reduction goals, Republicans on the House Commerce Committee said in a Friday memo circulated among lobbyists. “Spectrum policy will play a critical role in bringing interoperable broadband communications to public safety, in advancing wireless broadband, and in reducing the deficit,” the memo said. “A nimble, constructive approach to the next bands of spectrum to be brought to market will meet all three goals. Auctioning spectrum is one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to advance broadband deployment.” The memo listed several spectrum bands that could be auctioned: AWS-3, the 700 MHz D-block, AWS-2 H-block, broadcast TV spectrum and mobile satellite service. “While there is little outright opposition to incentive auctions, concerns remain about how to conduct such auctions equitably,” the committee GOP said. “Broadcasters emphasize that incentive auctions should be truly ‘voluntary.’ Broadcasters also raise concerns about how licensees wishing to retain their spectrum might be ‘repacked’ after other licensees voluntarily participate in incentive auctions.” The Communications Subcommittee has a hearing about spectrum auctions Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses are: CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe; Qualcomm Vice President Dean Brenner; Titan Broadcast Management President Bert Ellis; Schurz Communications CEO Todd Schurz; Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld; and Michelle Connolly, an economics professor at Duke University.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a June 1 hearing on commercial spectrum auctions, a Commerce Committee memo said. The subcommittee also has a spectrum hearing Wednesday on the public safety network. The auctions hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building.
A 700 MHz D-block reauction likely would raise $3 billion or less, far too little to pay the expected $10 billion to $13 billion cost of a national public safety network for first responders, the Phoenix Center said in a new paper. It urged reallocation of the D-block to public safety and using proceeds from a voluntary incentive auction of TV broadcast spectrum to pay for a network. “We support those in government seeking ways to fix the federal budget, and spectrum auctions have proven a reliable revenue source,” said center President Larry Spiwak. “However, it is essential to consider the full financial effects of the allocation options to avoid being penny-wise and pound-foolish. Our analysis suggests that the American taxpayer is better served by having the D Block assigned to public safety."
DALLAS -- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is “confident” that her joint spectrum bill with Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., will get through both houses of Congress and be signed this year, she said in response to our question after a speech at the TIA convention. Hutchison said the bill has “changed enormously” since Rockefeller initially introduced it, making it more appealing to both parties.
The Senate is moving faster than the House to finish legislation to build a nationwide interoperable public safety network. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, late Friday circulated a bipartisan draft bill. Committee aides told the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officers Summit Monday that they're pushing hard to pass a bill before the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But a GOP aide for the House Commerce Committee said it will be difficult to pass a bill in that timeframe.
The FCC shouldn’t give tribal entities an unfair advantage in spectrum auctions, NTCH said in response to the commission’s further inquiry on tribal issues related to establishment of a mobility fund. NTCH said it provides service in many rural areas, and is looking at serving tribal lands. “The Further Inquiry proposes to give tribally-owned or controlled providers a preference in the auction,” NTCH said. “This suggestion is well-meaning but misguided. There is no reason to assume that tribes or entities controlled by tribes have any expertise in constructing, operating or maintaining sophisticated wireless networks.” Sometimes “tribes have sophisticated telecom expertise or access to expert consultants,” the carrier said. “But in others, the tribes are no more qualified to construct or operate a mobile communications network than anyone else.” NTCH also opposed giving tribes input in deciding which areas have the highest priority for Mobility Fund access. “At first blush, this proposal seemed to make sense: allow the tribes themselves to identify needy areas,” NTCH said. “But on reflection, this skewing of the process would seem to be an unfair disservice to other needy areas."
More FM construction permits were bid on as an FCC auction of 144 of them continued. The commission held back 42 permits after 20 rounds of Auction 91. That’s 13 percent less than at the end of the first day of activity on Wednesday (CD April 29 p9). Total winning bids on a net basis rose 56 percent from round 4 to $7.54 million, agency figures showed. Lawrence Park, Pa., had the highest bids, with $2.07 million. Another four construction permits had bids above $500,000, including Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., subject of active bidding early on. Starting Tuesday, the commission had sped up bidding, to six rounds daily from four, noted wireless lawyer Raymond Quianzon of Fletcher Heald, who’s a specialist in spectrum auctions.
NAB officials reiterated their concerns about needing more information on the FCC’s plans for incentive spectrum auctions and “subsequent repacking” of stations that do not participate, in a meeting with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and Senior Adviser Rebecca Hanson, an ex parte notice shows. “We noted that some broadcast engineers have said that, without an alternative broadcast mechanism in place, some broadcast stations could be off-air for significant periods while a new transmitter is installed,” the notice said.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Unless the FCC does away with its net neutrality rules, Congress probably won’t give the FCC authority for incentive spectrum auctions to move TV broadcasters off their frequencies and let mobile broadband operators bid on them, said House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., after a field hearing on government impediments to job creation in the high-tech sector. “Until net neutrality is rolled back, I don’t believe Congress is going to be willing to give the FCC any new power,” Issa told reporters. The FCC got “administratively what it couldn’t get legislatively,” he said. An FCC spokesman declined to comment.
In pushing for incentive spectrum auctions, “I sort of wish we had started with satellite spectrum,” rather than broadcast TV, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker told the NAB show in Las Vegas. She participated in a Q-and-A late Tuesday with NAB President Gordon Smith. “I think that would have been a better proof of concept,” Baker said. Broadcasters “deserve more details” about what will happen if voluntary incentive auctions for TV spectrum occur, she said. “Mobile television is really starting to take off.” The agency should take a long-term view about what broadcasters will be able to do with their spectrum, she said. “I understand your frustration.” The commission should proceed with its review of media ownership rules and probably look at them in the context of its spectrum reallocation goals, Baker said. “I think they need to take into account the whole picture,” she said. “If we are going to ask a player to remove themselves from a market,” the regulator should also look at how that would implicate duopoly rules and other ownership limits, she said. The commission should also look at ways beyond spectrum auctions to spur innovation, Baker said. “We need to look at a much broader picture.” Incentive auctions should be one tool in a larger toolbox, she said. That could include giving broadcasters more technical flexibility to use advanced compression and transmission systems, she said. “MPEG-4 has a lot of promise” for broadcasting, she said. Baker also encouraged broadcasters to work with the FCC on incentive auctions. “I think these discussions shouldn’t be acrimonious, and I'm sorry it started that way.” There is some evidence to suggest that FM receivers are making their way into cellphones and consumers who want those devices will be able to get them, Baker said. “There’s some evidence that the market is working and there will be cellphones with radios.” Baker said she doesn’t support mandates that would require FM chips in cellphones.