FCC Vote on Shared 3.5 GHz Band Seen Likely at October Commissioners' Meeting

Industry officials said it appears likely commissioners will consider a long-awaited NPRM on the shared 3.5 GHz band at their Oct. 24 meeting. That’s not a certainty since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai won’t circulate items until Tuesday. The FCC earlier moved up the date of the meeting by two days. Big-ticket items like net neutrality aren't expected at the October meeting, the officials said Monday. There's uncertainty about whether media ownership will get a vote.

Pai declined to comment last week on the timing of a 3.5 GHz NPRM (see 1709260045). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, asked by Pai to develop revised rules, has made clear he wants to leave the band's three-tier structure largely in place, while making the licensed part more attractive (see 1708010058). Industry officials who have been working on Citizens Broadband Radio Service rules said an Oct. 24 vote seems kind of quick given the complexity of the issues raised.

“We’re pleased that they’re moving quickly because getting this certainty is obviously very important,” said Kalpak Gude, president of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance. “We hope that the changes are as minimal as possible to the existing rules.”

Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld wouldn’t be surprised to see Pai circulate the NPRM for a vote at the next meeting. “The matter has been pending for a while and the Republicans have made it clear they want to revisit the rules,” Feld told us. “We have repeatedly urged that the commission avoid relitigating issues and move forward with new rules, rather than backwards." The FCC would be better off focusing on how to reduce the size of the exclusion zones, the areas that can’t be used because of their proximity to naval radars, he said.

In a recent filing, Harris, Wiltshire's Paul Margie, representing Google, reported on a recent call between auction expert Paul Milgrom and O’Rielly. The relatively small license sizes in the current rules for priority access licenses don’t make an auction impossible, Milgrom said, according to a filing in docket 12-354. “CBRS auctions using the current rules’ census-tract-sized licenses can be far simpler than the FCC’s recent complex auctions, given the characteristics of CBRS licenses, including the band plan and the likely uses,” Milgrom said. “Simultaneous ascending-clock CBRS auctions would allow the Commission to administer an auction of a large number of licenses, which would be fast to implement and easy for bidders to use. This format would make participation easier, encourage competition, and lead to outcomes that are more efficient.” Google has supported leaving the current rules in place (see 1709220032).

Timing of pending FCC media ownership actions seemed to be up in the air, meantime. There have been rumblings the commission could act at that meeting, but the actions could be pushed back until the Nov. 16 meeting, a broadcast industry official said Monday. Other industry representatives were unsure.

Two different items are under consideration, said broadcast attorney Jack Goodman: an order on the petitions of NAB and others to reconsider a 2016 quadrennial review order, and an NPRM on the 39 percent local broadcast TV national ownership potential audience cap. FCC officials didn't comment. Some had expected action on the recon petitions to wait until after Chairman Ajit Pai's reconfirmation (see 1710020062).