Open-Access Rule Triggered by FCC Spectrum Bid

[GreatLakes]

Open-Access Rule Triggered by FCC Spectrum Bid

by Chloe Albanesius
A portion of the 700-MHz spectrum currently up for auction by the FCC is guaranteed to have open-access requirements now that bidding has surpassed a $4.6 billion reserve price.

Bidding on a package of licenses that cover all 50 states in the so-called C-block reached $4.7 billion Thursday. Last year the FCC agreed to designate the 22-MHz upper C-block as one that would be open to devices and applications, provided those licenses attracted at least $4.6 billion in bids.

Driving this call for open access was Google, which argued in July that wireless spectrum for mobile phones and data in the U.S. was controlled by a small group of companies, leaving very few choices for consumers, and should include open access requirements.

The search engine later pledged to spend at least $4.6 billion on the spectrum auction if the FCC agreed to open applications, devices, services and networks. The FCC allowed open access but denied Google's request for a wholesale approach. Nonetheless, Google applied to participate in the auction and was granted permission to bid under the name Google Airwaves.

At issue is a portion of spectrum in the 700-MHz band that will become available once television broadcasters shift from analog to digital signals in early 2009. On January 24, the FCC started auctioning off access to that spectrum to a group of 214 approved bidders. The commission will continue to hold bidding rounds, conducted by phone and via Internet bids, until there is a round in which no bids are placed. The most recent round drew 913 bids, so the auction could continue for weeks.

Media reports speculated that bidding in the C-block was finished now that the reserve price had been met, but the FCC said that bidders could still conceivably bid on the C-block in future rounds. No bids were placed on the 50-state C-block package in the last three rounds, and anyone who wishes to place a bid must now pledge at least $5.2 billion, according to the FCC auction Web site.

Though FCC rules prohibit the commission from revealing who is actually bidding on what licenses until the auction is complete, it is widely believed that Google is among those currently competing for the C-block. Another possible bidder on the C-block is Verizon Wireless. It will not be clear until the auction concludes, however, whether Google has slowly been inching toward the $4.6 billion reserve price by itself or if Google and Verizon have been battling it out for the past week.

Another license to watch is the D-block, which will be used for public safety use should it reach a reserve price of $1.3 billion. It has thus far only received one bid worth $472 million, however.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759...069TX1K0001121

[donc13]

Another license to watch is the D-block, which will be used for public safety use should it reach a reserve price of $1.3 billion. It has thus far only received one bid worth $472 million, however.

Why would they auction off the Public Safety block? That doesn't make sense....sell it to someone so they can re-sell it to public safety agencies? I would have figured that block would have been held out of the aution and parceled off piece by piece as needed when agencies applied to use it. Why put a middle man in there?

[WA4MJF]

And a better question, why when somebody buys the frequencies for,
does the FCC presume to tell them what they can do with them??????
If I bought and paid for spectrum, I'd use it how it pleased me and
not let anyone and everyone use it!

[n4voxgill]

The D Block frequencies are part of the television frequencies being auctioned. They never have been assigned to public safety. What the auction does is requires the bidder to pay the federal treasury the bid price. Those freqeuncies will then be lumped with 10 MHz of public safety frequencies that have been assigned to the Public Safety Trust. The D block bidder must enter into a contract the the public safety trust to build a natiionwide broadband system. The frequencies will be under the sole control of the public safety trust and the D block bidder. As the bidder builds out the system, public safety agencies will set the standards that the system must be built and then always have first choice to use the frequencies. The ones not being used by public safety can be offered to the public like cellphone service, but can always be pre-empted if needed for public safety.

[donc13]

Originally Posted by n4voxgill

The D Block frequencies are part of the television frequencies being auctioned. They never have been assigned to public safety. What the auction does is requires the bidder to pay the federal treasury the bid price. Those freqeuncies will then be lumped with 10 MHz of public safety frequencies that have been assigned to the Public Safety Trust. The D block bidder must enter into a contract the the public safety trust to build a natiionwide broadband system. The frequencies will be under the sole control of the public safety trust and the D block bidder. As the bidder builds out the system, public safety agencies will set the standards that the system must be built and then always have first choice to use the frequencies. The ones not being used by public safety can be offered to the public like cellphone service, but can always be pre-empted if needed for public safety.

I understand the part about these being the old higher end of the UHF TV Spectrum (which used to go even higher...up to channel 82 I believe). The way spectrum has always been allocated for public safety in the past, is blocks were set aside and the individual agencies applied for licenses within those blocks. The public "owned" the airwaves and the FCC merely administrated them. Obviously, for something nationwide like cell phone service, blocks of frequencies were sold off throughout the country so a commercial company could "own" those airwaves and assure itself (the "A" carrier and the "B" carrier) that their investment in equipment would have a chance to provide a return.

But for public safety? Are we talking about the equivalent of a nationwide broadband, wireless network for public safety only? Or are we talking about a nationwide broadband service (the "D" block) that one of the requirements is the bidders set aside 10MHz for public safety use only (and I presume for minimal or no fee)?

Otherwise, I see it as no different than forcing the public safety agencies to use local cell phone (or similar) service.

Public safety should build their own networks on "free" frequencies allocated by the FCC so as to eliminate interference. They should not have to purchase (bid) or re-purchase the frequencies from a commercial entity.

[n4voxgill]

you have it all wrong. I tried to explain it simple, guess to simple. One las try, it will be a nationwide system built by a private company. Included in the frequencies they will use is 10 MHz of Public Safety 700 frequencies that have been set aside for wideband use, and the additional frequencies they must buy in the auction. Public safety says how the system must be built to safety standards and will always have first choice on all frequencies in the system. Public safety will pay a user fee per unit as negotiated between the private company and the public safety trust. Public safety saves by not having to build any infrastructure. Say the State of California decides they want statewide wideband service to provide two way video, pictures, fingerprints and even voice, the infrastructure would cost them tens of millions of dollars and then buy the individual units. The private company that owns the system will also sell wideband service to business and individual. Say there was an earthquake in San Francisco, all private users would be disabled and public safety would have the only access to the system's 20 MHz of spectrum.

There will only be two licenses. One is held by the public safety trust for their 10 MHz of spectrum, and the succesful bidder would hold the other license. If the bidder does not reach an agreement with the public safety trust, then they lose their FCC license.

Try the website www.psst.org for more info

[donc13]

Originally Posted by n4voxgill

you have it all wrong. I tried to explain it simple, guess to simple. One las try, it will be a nationwide system built by a private company. Included in the frequencies they will use is 10 MHz of Public Safety 700 frequencies that have been set aside for wideband use, and the additional frequencies they must buy in the auction. Public safety says how the system must be built to safety standards and will always have first choice on all frequencies in the system. Public safety will pay a user fee per unit as negotiated between the private company and the public safety trust. Public safety saves by not having to build any infrastructure. Say the State of California decides they want statewide wideband service to provide two way video, pictures, fingerprints and even voice, the infrastructure would cost them tens of millions of dollars and then buy the individual units. The private company that owns the system will also sell wideband service to business and individual. Say there was an earthquake in San Francisco, all private users would be disabled and public safety would have the only access to the system's 20 MHz of spectrum.

There will only be two licenses. One is held by the public safety trust for their 10 MHz of spectrum, and the succesful bidder would hold the other license. If the bidder does not reach an agreement with the public safety trust, then they lose their FCC license.

Try the website www.psst.org for more info

Yea...I looked at the psst site....I hope the idea works, I've got my doubts...but I've been wrong before.

[CommJunkie]

So Google is trying to start their own cell phone company?

[gmclam]

The Federal Communications Commission’s auction of the 700-MHz portion of the spectrum, now occupied by TV broadcasters, has been a financial success, with total bids of more than $19.5 billion for all five bands, far outstripping the $10 billion reserve set by the FCC.

But the one loser in the ongoing auction, now entering its second month, has been the D block, which includes the chunks of spectrum set aside for a nationwide public safety network.

“It is now becoming clear that the reserve price will not be met,” said Roberta Wiggins, a research fellow at the Yankee Group.

idding on that block stalled early in the auction, with one bid at $472 million ­ far below the minimum price of $1.3 billion set for it. Bidders apparently have been scared off by what Wiggins called the “horrendous cost” and “Herculean task” of building out a single network, a large part of which would be used exclusively by first responders in state, local and public safety agencies around the country. During emergencies, public safety agencies would receive priority on all segments of the D block network.

What the stalled bidding means for the future of the public safety network is not clear.

“We still don’t know what happens if D block doesn’t meet its reserve and what they plan to do with it,” said Berge Ayvazian, chief strategy officer at Yankee Group.

That is just one of many unknowns discussed in a telebriefing Thursday by Yankee Group analysts who summed up the current status of the auction. The open-ended auction could continue for as long as four more months, and for the first time the bidding is anonymous.

“We not only don’t know who the winners are yet, we don’t even know who is bidding,” Ayvazian said.

TV broadcasters are moving to digital signals within a year, freeing up a large segment of spectrum in the 700-MHz band that now is being used for commercial TV channels. Commercial operators are vying for 1,099 licenses being offered by the FCC for auction in that band. The majority of those licenses will be commercial operations that are expected to open the door for new generations of IP-based mobile broadband services that can accommodate data and full Internet access as well as voice traffic.

Bidding opened in January and FCC requires payment in June. Current broadcasters will have to vacate the spectrum by February 2009, and first deployments by new license holders probably will be seen around 2010. As of Thursday afternoon, bidding was in the 123rd round, progressing at a rate of six rounds each day. No announcements will be made until the auction ends, when bidding on all blocks of the spectrum have stopped.

“It certainly is not over, even though the activity has slowed down,” said Diane Northfield, director of global regulatory research at the Yankee Group. Bid totals are climbing slowly by several million dollars a day, which is slow given the billions of dollars involved.

One are of the spectrum that has gotten a lot of attention is the C block, which is reserved for open-access networks not restricted to devices and services offered by the network operators. Northfield thinks this has been overhyped, because currently, bids by regional networkers have outstripped those by nationwide licensees. If the licenses are awarded on a regional rather than a national basis, “it’s a potential dilution of the open access,” she said.

But the big loser so far is the D block and the public safety network, which is being offered as a single, nationwide license. One option for the failed block would be offering it for auction again under the same terms, which Wiggins said is unlikely. “Why try again?” she said. Or it could be offered on more liberal terms that would make the opportunity more attractive to commercial operators.

One option that could gain traction would be for the federal and state governments to fund the building of a public safety network for state and local agencies.

“Many believe that the building of the public safety network should not be left to commercial auction,” but to public funding, Wiggins said.

That is the choice of at least some at the FCC. “My first preference ­ by a long country mile ­ would have been a fully funded, federally funded public-safety-grade network reserved solely for first responders,” FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has said.

Sources for funding the network could include a diversion of some of the budget for the stalled Interagency Wireless Network, intended to serve primarily federal law enforcement agencies, or the $10 billion that will be raised in the 700-MHz auction above the $10 billion reserve set by the FCC.

Original link:
http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45904-1.html