Wireless

摘要

The FCC notified the NTIA it plans to start an auction of licenses in the 1695-1710 and 1755-n1780 MHz bands as early as September 2014. In doing so, the FCC satisfied a requirement of lastnyear’s spectrum law, the FCC said (http://fcc.us/ZNM3n7). “As directed by Congress in the SpectrumnAct, NTIA recently identified the 1695-1710 MHz band as the 15 megahertz of spectrum between 1675nMHz and 1710 MHz to be reallocated from federal use to non-federal use,” the FCC said. “The SpectrumnAct now requires the Commission to allocate this identified spectrum for commercial use and tonlicense the spectrum by February 2015. Our goal is to ensure that the Commission has adequate time tonconduct this auction and complete the subsequent licensing process prior to the Spectrum Act's deadline.”nThe 1695-1710 MHz is part of the 1675-1710 MHz band, which provides weather satellitendownlinks, and was the subject of a Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee workingngroup, which looked at sharing in the band. The 1755-1780 MHz band has been a longtime target forncarriers for reallocation for wireless broadband. A government official said the move is mostly ministerialnand provides options for the FCC to reallocate the 1755 MHz spectrum, though many questions remain.n"We are happy that both the FCC and NTIA are working to move these two pairings to auction,"nsaid CTIA Vice President Chris Guttman-McCabe. "Clearing this spectrum and moving the bands tonauction will bring tremendous, measurable benefits to our economy, our citizens and our country." "TMobilenhas worked closely with the FCC, NTIA, and federal users to make these bands available fornmobile broadband use and today’s designation marks a critical milestone in this process," said SeniornVice President Tom Sugrue. "When paired with spectrum the FCC already has under its jurisdiction,nthese frequency blocks can provide an additional 80 MHz of valuable spectrum adjacent to the AWS-1nband, and expand US leadership in LTE mobile broadband deployment." Senate Commerce CommitteenRanking Member John Thune, R-S.D., said he was glad to see the FCC taking steps to pair and auctionntogether the 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz wireless spectrum bands according to a news releasenfollowing the publication of the letter. Thune commended Commissioner Ajit Pai for advocating thenFCC use of its notify-and-auction authority and said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has "oncenagain shown he clearly understands the tremendous potential of commercial mobile broadband and thenimportance of making more public resources available to the private sector for development," the newsnrelease said. Thune urged NTIA and the White House to concentrate their efforts on reallocating then1755-1780 MHz band "for as much exclusive, non-federal use as is feasible. Cleared spectrum is thenbest way to meet consumer demand and raise revenues needed to relocate current users and reduce thendeficit," he said. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she too was pleased by the FCC's letter: "Pairing then1755-1780 MHz band with 2155-2180 MHZ band makes sense not just for revenue purposes, but alsonfor innovation in our ever growing digital economy," she said in an email sent via her spokesman. "Thenclock is ticking on the AWS-3 spectrum reallocation. We must find a timely solution that address bothnour economic needs and our national security challenges." Last congress Matsui introduced the EfficientnUse of Government Spectrum Act which sought to require the FCC to pair for commercial auctionnthe 1755-1780 MHz band with the 2155-2180 MHz band (CD April 27 p5).