AGL Magazine, April, 2016 — With the FCC incentive auction scheduled to get underway on March 29, the matter of how long it would take for TV stations to transition from 600-MHz radio-frequency spectrum seemed to remain uncertain, notwithstanding a 39-month window for relocating TV stations to different channels. The process is called “repacking.”
Representatives of the broadcast industry are pessimistic about the ability of TV stations to meet the deadline. Gordon Smith, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, thinks the 39-month window for repacking TV channels after the auction is not realistic. He has his say on page 10 in this issue.
Representatives of the wireless telecommunications industry appear to be optimistic that clearing TV channels for mobile communications within that period can be done. Among them is Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of the Competitive Carriers Association.
One of the points of contention is whether there are enough crews qualified for working on the tall towers broadcasters use to do the necessary work within 39 months. The NAB says no. Berry says yes, and his figures question whether as many TV stations would be affected as the NAB says there would. His figures estimate many more qualified crews are available than the NAB says there are.
Meanwhile, the incentive auction doesn’t seem likely to draw the $45 billion in bids that the AWS-3 auction did. The incentive auction might draw $25 billion to $35 billion in bids for the TV broadcasters’ 600-MHz licenses.
Notably absent from the auction are Google and Sprint. That these two are not bidding is made all the more interesting because Google is using Sprint’s spectrum (and T-Mobile USA’s spectrum) as a mobile virtual network operator in offering a service called “Project Fi.” The service also allows users to access public Wi-Fi networks.
Among the expected bidders are T-Mobile, Comcast, Dish Network and Columbia Capital.
Mobile Now Act
Not all presidential executive orders have bipartisan support, but President Barack Obama’s 2010 order that the U.S. government should make 500 megahertz of federal spectrum available for private use by 2020 received a boost from the Republican-controlled Senate. In March, the Mobile Now Act unanimously passed a Senate Commerce Committee vote. Among other things, the legislation would make the executive order a statutory mandate.
Shifting that much spectrum no doubt involves enormous complexities, but it supports the increasing use of wireless communications.