In May, the FCC issued a comprehensive incentive auction framework order that represented a substantial step toward a successful auction. While the order resolved many open issues, it also set the stage for a series of new ones and the published list of follow-on proceedings made clear that significant work remains to be done. Of…
Read More Interference on the LineJoan Marsh Posts
NAB’s Incentive Auction Lawsuit – A Detour not a Road Block
Earlier this week, NAB filed suit in Federal Court challenging aspects of the Commission’s May Incentive Auction Order. NAB’s lawsuit was not a surprise – NAB had made pretty clear that it was unhappy with how the Commission was proposing to implement elements of the Spectrum Act, particularly as related to statutory protections provided to…
Read More NAB’s Incentive Auction Lawsuit – A Detour not a Road BlockThe Roaming Marketplace is Working
T-Mobile, which advertises itself as the “un-carrier,” has asked the FCC to “un-do” its data roaming rules, which were established in 2011 to facilitate reasonable data roaming arrangements while continuing to incent network investments. T-Mobile now asks for a “declaratory ruling” which would effectively eviscerate that FCC decision and run afoul of the D.C. Circuit…
Read More The Roaming Marketplace is Working‘911’ Location Accuracy: Getting to Dispatchable Addresses
TruePosition recently commissioned and produced a test report purporting to show that its proprietary technology can meet the FCC’s proposed benchmarks for locating wireless 911 callers horizontally and vertically indoors. The tests were run on a test bed in Wilmington, Delaware outside the context of the established CSRIC process specifically designed to assess new “911”…
Read More ‘911’ Location Accuracy: Getting to Dispatchable AddressesIlluminating the Possibilities
Yesterday, in the FCC’s Incentive Auction proceeding, AT&T filed a computational study that seeks to provide insights into some fundamental and essential auction questions – namely, for any given clearing target, what might a successful auction look like in terms of how many broadcasters must participate and in what markets? And, how much diversity is there…
Read More Illuminating the PossibilitiesMore on the Low Band Spectrum Debate
As the debate about auction limitations and restrictions rages on, one new argument is particularly notable. CCA has for months sought low band restrictions or limits in the auction. CCA has long argued that AT&T and Verizon have somehow foreclosed their members from access to low band spectrum (a notion that I debunked in a blog some…
Read More More on the Low Band Spectrum DebateMore on Auction Limits
The word out of the FCC is that we can expect a 600 MHz auction framework item in the May timeframe. This has set the auction restrictions drums beating (again). Calls for large-carrier limitations and even strategic set asides are growing ever louder. In all the rhetoric, some fundamental facts are getting lost. So, let’s ground…
Read More More on Auction LimitsRight on in AWS-3
A draft order for the AWS-3 auction is circulating for a vote at the FCC, and while I have not seen the item, early reports of its recommendations suggest to me that the Commission staff has got this one exactly right. Why? The item proposes a band plan that includes two 10 x 2 MHz…
Read More Right on in AWS-3Establishing Effective Spectrum Policy – Part III
When the Commission’s mobile spectrum holdings proceeding was initiated over a year ago, AT&T argued that the Commission’s basic spectrum aggregation test – as originally conceived – remained a sound approach. The test seeks to strike a balance between regulatory certainty, by assuring licensees that spectrum accumulations within a safe harbor will be approved, and regulatory…
Read More Establishing Effective Spectrum Policy – Part IIIFacts About Low Band Spectrum Holdings
In an op ed last week, CCA again called for auction limits to “prevent the two dominant wireless carriers from blocking competitors’ access to low-frequency spectrum.” The problem, according to CCA, is that AT&T and Verizon control a significant portfolio of low band spectrum. CCA also alleges we were “handed” our 850 MHz allocations “free…
Read More Facts About Low Band Spectrum Holdings