House Republicans are thinking about using the Universal Service Fund to help pay down the budget deficit, Congressional documents show and Hill and industry officials told us. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., circulated a slide presentation among his colleagues Tuesday that contained cuts and savings proposed in talks with Vice President Joe Biden, including between $20 billion and $25 billion in “spectrum/USF” savings.
House and Senate Democrats objected to draft spectrum legislation floated Wednesday by House Commerce Committee Republicans. The draft bill, which will be the subject of a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday, does not give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, unlike the Senate’s bipartisan spectrum bill. Like S-911, the House draft would authorize the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions, but it limits the FCC to a single auction of broadcaster spectrum. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced a separate spectrum bill Friday related to unlicensed use.
Spectrum legislation could become part of the budget deal for fiscal-year 2012, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has mentioned that as a possibility, so Rockefeller hasn’t talked to Reid about separate floor time for his legislation S-911, Rockefeller said. Congress has been trying to make a deal on debt ceiling legislation that must pass before Aug. 2 or the U.S. will default on its obligations. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said he’s hoping the FCC will work on 700 MHz interoperability.
Vulcan Wireless officials warned of an increasingly muddied outlook for 700 MHz A-block licensees trying to negotiate voluntary relocation agreements with Channel 51 stations, in an FCC meeting with Chief William Lake and others in the Media Bureau. The possibility of a voluntary auction of broadcast spectrum “has made it much more difficult, if not impossible, for A Block licensees to enter into voluntary relocation agreements with Channel 51 broadcasters,” Vulcan said in an ex parte filing. “Sharply escalated Channel 51 licensing activity” since the 700 MHz auction closed in 2008 “is complicating interference issues and impeding A Block network planning and design,” the company said. Vulcan supports a March petition by CTIA and the Rural Cellular Association asking the FCC to prohibit future licensing of TV stations on Channel 51 and freeze all applications for new or modified broadcast facilities seeking to operate on the channel. “If not addressed, these problems will cause even further harm to A Block licensees and consumers and negatively impact participation in, as well as revenues from, future spectrum auctions,” Vulcan said.
Congress might add spectrum auction authority to legislation raising the debt ceiling, MF Global analyst Paul Gallant wrote clients Tuesday. The legislation might authorize the FCC to auction broadcast and government spectrum, he said. Congress must pass a debt ceiling bill before Aug. 2 or the U.S. will default on its obligations. “The way this would happen is Senate and House leadership would give each committee a financial target to either reduce federal spending or find new revenue,” Gallant said. “We expect the Commerce Committees would focus on FCC spectrum auctions, which are expected to raise billions of dollars."
BRUSSELS -- Europe got it right by coordinating wireless standards for 3G, but 10 years later has lost its dominance because of a lack of spectrum, U.S. Ambassador to the EU William Kennard said Tuesday at the annual European spectrum management conference. Europe’s information and communications technology market is about the same size as the U.S.’s, but with 200 million more people, it’s underperforming, he said. He floated the idea of pan-European spectrum auctions but said political pressures must be surmounted before that can happen. Others questioned whether Europe-wide auctions are the answer.
The FCC and Department of Justice should clear the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and also allow the combined company to buy more spectrum after the deal is complete, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said in a note Friday. AT&T’s top official made clear in a meeting with investors Thursday night that the company will remain a bidder in future spectrum auctions, Piecyk said. “CEO Randall Stephenson remarked that he has yet to regret any spectrum purchases and would be interested in acquiring more spectrum even after the T-Mobile acquisition,” the note said. “That view makes sense to us based both on the growth in data traffic and because AT&T has no clear near term path to cleaning a 40 MHz block of contiguous spectrum on which to deploy a fat channel (20x20) version of LTE."
Senators have drafted a plethora of amendments to comprehensive spectrum legislation to be marked up Wednesday in the Commerce Committee. A substitute amendment to S-911 forming the base text of the bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, surfaced last week (CD June 2 p9). At least 79 draft amendments were prepared by other members on the committee, including 30 by Senate Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim DeMint, R-S.C. Historically in Senate Commerce, many amendments offered before markup are not agreed to and are not mentioned at the markup.
Congress should pass voluntary incentive auction legislation this year, a coalition of wireless industry executives wrote Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees. Tuesday’s letter was signed by the top four national carriers, and several regional carriers and top wireless device manufacturers including Apple, Motorola, Nokia and Research In Motion. The House Communications Subcommittee has a hearing Wednesday on spectrum auctions, and the Senate Commerce Committee may take up legislation by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., as soon as next week.
Broadcasters plan to state their conditions for accepting legislation authorizing voluntary incentive auctions at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Communications Subcommittee. “NAB does not object to an incentive auction process that is truly voluntary in all important respects and that serves the public’s interest in preserving and enhancing present and future broadcast services,” Schurz Communications CEO Todd Schurz said in written testimony prepared for the hearing. “For an auction process to be truly voluntary, however, broadcasters must not be coerced into participating in an incentive auction, nor should they face penalties for not participating, such as reduced interference protection, relocation to inferior channel allotments, diminished service areas, or onerous taxes in the form of spectrum fees.” In separate written testimony, Titan Broadcast Management President Bert Ellis said repacking should also be voluntary. Broadcasters would be more willing if Congress mandated radio tuners in wireless devices, and provided money from spectrum auctions to convert TV broadcasters to OFDM [orthogonal frequency division multiplexing] technology, he said. “Give us some assets to further develop our business and we will repack and give up some of our spectrum and work with the FCC and the wireless industry to make the National Broadband Plan even more effective.” Wireless industry witnesses will urge Congress to immediately pass incentive auction legislation. Incentive auctions and repacking could free up 120 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband, CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe said in written testimony. Incentive auctions represent a quadruple win: For spectrum sellers, buyers, the U.S. Treasury and the American public, Qualcomm Vice President Dean Brenner said in separate testimony. The hearing is at noon in Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building.