While NAB was holding its largest convention of the year in Las Vegas, telecom associations and companies were busy filing their opposition to changes broadcasters would like the FCC to make to its repack plan. NAB believes broadcasters will need about twice the amount of the $1.75B Congress has allocated to reimburse stations to relocate to different channels as the TV spectrum is repacked into a smaller portion of the band; the broadcast trade lobby has also consistently said 39 months is not enough time for everyone to move, given the limited number of tower crews that can handle tall TV towers and new, heavy antennas.
“The current 39-month deadline should not be the driver of the entire process,” NAB representatives recently emphasized to the Commission. NAB earlier petitioned the FCC to modify its repack plan, Inside Towers reported, saying if the agency doesn’t make the proposed changes, the repack will take longer, cost more and cause more disruption than it has to.
The Competitive Carriers Association, T-Mobile and CTIA all oppose NAB’s petition and urged the agency to dismiss it, according to an examination by Inside Towers of FCC filings.
“NAB can hardly claim that the FCC’s final rulemaking – the result of which is the product of numerous years of advocacy by a variety of stakeholders – can reasonably be deemed an ‘afterthought,’ and this assertion should be promptly rejected,” said CCA. Additionally, CCA calls the NAB petition “an impermissible attack” on the FCC’s 39-month repack timeframe that arrived too late for a challenge.
CTIA argues that NAB’s petition rehashes previously rejected arguments that if adopted, would delay the repack. Further, “NAB’s recommended changes to the post-auction repacking process are based on arguments that either generally overstate the effect on broadcaster relocation or would unnecessarily delay the transition.”
“NAB’s assertion that ‘wireless carriers ultimately did not even want’ the 600 MHz spectrum band is squarely contradicted by the fact that the auction generated the second most revenue ever for any Commission-held auction. … There can be no mistake that the 600 MHz spectrum is highly valued and that the wireless industry will put the spectrum to rapid and effective use,” wrote CTIA.
T-Mobile says it plans to deploy advanced LTE services using the 600 MHz beginning this year. T-Mobile tells the Commission it intends “to use the highly favorable propagation characteristics of low-band 600 MHz spectrum to contest markets long dominated by just one or two wireless providers and bring the benefits of increased competitive rivalry to consumers throughout the United States.”
The carrier tells the FCC it deployed its 700 MHz spectrum “in record time and that low band spectrum has been key to its ability to compete, including by expanding coverage to rural areas and strengthening coverage in urban areas. Rapid deployment of the 600 MHz band will allow T-Mobile to further expand coverage in areas where it does not hold 700 MHz licenses and further strengthen coverage and capacity throughout its coverage area.”
May 2, 2017
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