FCC Committed to Meeting Broadband Plan’s Aggressive Timelines

HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- The FCC has a huge agenda from the National Broadband Plan to work through, but the commission has every intention of completing the work assigned, top officials said at the FCBA conference over the weekend.

Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman said she had seen criticisms that the FCC hasn’t had the fire power to take on the huge number of items proposed in the plan in a short time (CD April 21 p6). “I read that article and my reaction was, ‘Just watch us,'” Milkman said. “We are geared up and this ship is moving. … I'm not saying that we won’t have to course-correct along the way, make adjustments, but we're ready and we're moving forward. We're going to execute that agenda."

"The staff is working very hard,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief James Barnett. “The staff is very energized by this agenda. There is a great deal of excitement … about moving that forward. I'm going to let more experienced people than I talk about whether we can get it all done. Maybe not, but we have every intention of doing so.”

Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said the FCC’s next step on the broadcast spectrum recommendations in the broadband plan will be to bring engineers together in a public forum to discuss how to accomplish the plan’s goals. The FCC hopes to release a notice of proposed rulemaking on the “foundation issues” regarding making spectrum available for wireless broadband sometime in the fall, he said. “Then we will go on from there,” Lake said. A key remaining question is “whether Congress wants to give us this incentive auction authority” to auction broadcast spectrum, he said.

Milkman said her bureau will put most of its emphasis on following up on the spectrum recommendations in the plan. Chapter 5 [of the plan] tells “you pretty much know what we're going to be doing over the next few years,” she said. Milkman also said the FCC is trying to “pack more into NPRMs,” so issues in individual proceedings are addressed upfront as much as possible to expedite decision making.

Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett joked that her organization has a “pretty small agenda” under the plan, with responsibility for overhauling the Universal Service Fund. The first priority is “making sure all Americans are connected to broadband in the 21st century,” she said. The “number one complaint” the FCC hears is that people don’t have access to broadband, Gillett said. “This is a big deal” that will “consume quite a bit of our attention.” Another top focus will be implementing recommendations in chapters 4 and 6 of the plan to ensure a “foundation” of competition in broadband markets. The bureau also will help the FCC lay a foundation for “data-driven policy going forward,” she said. “In order for the commission to really do its job … it has to have data about the actual state of the world.”

Barnett said the FCC has “set the bar high” with the plan. “We're going to continue to work you guys hard for the next year at the very least,” he told the FCBA members. Top agenda items at the bureau are a “complete rework” of the 911 system, based on broadband, developing a “next generation” emergency alert system, and cybersecurity, he said. The ongoing 800 MHz rebanding will also require FCC attention.

"But without a doubt the thing that has been front and center over the past few months and will continue to be … is the creation of a nationwide, truly interoperable public safety broadband network” using 700 MHz spectrum, Barnett said. “We've taken the first few steps in what we think will ensure that interoperability with the establishment of an Emergency Response Interoperability Center. I'm excited about the progress on that.” The bureau also sought nominations for a technical advisory committee. Barnett said he’s “very excited” about the possibility that Congress will approve funding to build the network even in a tough budget environment. “I think one of the reasons that they're interested in it is because of the potential for really solving interoperability,” he said.

During another panel , FCC and industry officials discussed how the commission and the NTIA will meet the goal of identifying 500 MHz of spectrum that the broadband plan says will be needed over the next five years for wireless broadband. Angela Giancarlo, chief of staff to Commissioner Robert McDowell, said McDowell favors a spectrum inventory to set a baseline. “At the same time, we feel that this may be one of those projects where expectations might need to be managed a little bit,” she said. “If you ask five different people what the spectrum inventory is going to look like or what it is going to do you might get five different opinions."

Giancarlo questioned whether the U.S. has a spectrum crisis. “We accept that there is a looming crisis,” she said. “What our office is most interested in is hearing from carriers and providers as to the tools available in the marketplace right now to boost efficiency. What sort of antenna systems, what sort of technological solutions are being used now in order to maximize your spectrum.”

Dianne Cornell, vice president of government affairs at Inmarsat, said the spectrum targets in the plan can be hit. “It’s not going to be easy,” she said. “It’s going to be a nightmare. But it’s doable.” Cornell said ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) spectrum targeted by the plan is some of the “low-hanging fruit” as the FCC looks for spectrum that can be easily used for mobile broadband. The “framework is already set,” she said. “The entities that are interested in it already have their agency authorization. There’s nothing really stopping the roll out there, except the financing for the terrestrial network."

"There’s not a lot of low-hanging fruit,” said Steve Sharkey, Motorola senior director of regulatory and spectrum policy. “I don’t think any of it is easy and it will take a lot of work to get there.” Motorola supports reallocating the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, but Sharkey conceded that it’s one of the few blocks that could easily be made available through auction. “The ATC stuff is good and I think that will go forward, but it has taken awhile,” he said. “That’s unfortunately one of the bad things on D-block is it is a fine chunk of spectrum, a very good band with commercial services around it.” Other bands mentioned in the plan “have been teed up for a while” and present “significant interference issues,” Sharkey said.