AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO John Stankey lobbied three FCC Commissioners last week for FirstNet gaining control of the 4.9 GHz band. The action is controversial since AT&T built FirstNet and can use the band. 4.9 GHz users are concerned the carrier could control the band for its own interests, according to Law360.
Opponents claim such a move would be a “multi-billion dollar windfall for AT&T,” which Stankey disputed in the meetings. Stankey met with FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington and their chiefs of staff.
Stankey “highlighted the broad support within public safety labor and management organizations for action by the Commission to facilitate use of the 4.9 GHz band by the FirstNet Authority to achieve greater public safety utilization of the band,” according to an AT&T summary of the meetings. Stankey discussed the fact that “public safety users require a distinct level of network performance, reliability, and coverage,” according to the filing.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) opposes the concept, first proposed by the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance. Verizon suggested the Commission auction the spectrum instead, according to an FCC filing. Verizon told the agency if there is an auction, it would support proceeds being given to public safety priorities, such as NG911, notes Datacenter Dynamics.
Like AT&T, Verizon has its own dedicated solution for first responders, under its Verizon Frontline business. “The impact of a spectrum giveaway on the commercial wireless marketplace would be similarly dramatic, particularly at a time when the Commission and other policymakers are working to replenish the empty pipeline for mid-band spectrum,” said Verizon to the FCC. “Providing AT&T with access to an additional 50 megahertz of mid-band spectrum that would largely be put to use for commercial customers would result in a substantial windfall.”
Verizon notes in its filing that The Brattle Group recently valued the 50 MHz spectrum in the 4.9 GHz band at more than $14 billion, according to Datacenter Dynamics.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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