Download - Enterprise Wireless Alliance

Responding to the FCC’s T-Band Plans
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2 : 0 0 P M ( E S T ) , T h u r s d a y, M a r c h 7 , 2 0 1 3
Enterprise Wireless Alliance
MARK E.CROSBY
PRESIDENT
ENTERPRISE WIRELESS ALLIANCE
ELIZABETH R. SACHS, ESQ.
EWA REGULATORY COUNSEL
LUCAS NACE GUTIERREZ & SACHS
Middle Class Tax relief and Job Creation Act of 2012
“The Spectrum Reform Bill”
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Legislative Mandate
 No later than nine years after enactment (February 22, 2021) FCC shall
reallocate the 470-512 MHz spectrum (T-Band) “currently used by public
safety eligibles and auction this spectrum”
 Auction proceeds will be available for NTIA to provide grants to cover
public safety relocation costs
Middle Class Tax relief and Job Creation Act of 2012
“The Spectrum Reform Bill”
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FCC Responses
 Issues a narrowbanding exemption for both Public Safety and
Industrial/Business T-Band systems
 Initiates a “limited licensing” freeze for both Public Safety and
Industrial/Business applications, including pending applications, seeking
either new/additional spectrum or enhanced coverage
 Dismisses almost all Requests for Waiver
 Issues Public Notice (PS Docket No. 13-42; DA 13-187) to gather information
“concerning when, how and under what circumstances it is most
appropriate to reallocate the T-Band and relocate T-Band users” . . .
Comments due May 13, Replies June 11
Scope of Relocation
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 Affected Licensees – 1,009 Public Safety and 703 Industrial/Business
 Devices – 355,630 Public Safety and 223,593 Industrial/Business
 Repeaters – 20,039 Public Safety and 8,184 Industrial/Business
 Sites – 2,982 Public Safety and 1,746 Industrial/Business
 Public Safety is the major spectrum occupant in New York, Los Angeles,
Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Pittsburgh
 Industrial/Business is the major occupant in Baltimore/DC, Dallas,
Houston and Miami
The Easy Questions
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 How many licensees of all types use T-Band? See ULS!
 What is the approximate split between Public Safety and
Industrial/Business? See ULS!
 How many repeaters, mobiles radios, etc. are operating?
See ULS – reasonably representative of what is operational.
 What are main use cases, i.e., dispatch, command-and-control, etc.?
All of the above; requirements that cannot necessarily by met on
commercial or private broadband networks, even assuming the FCC were
to allocate spectrum for the latter.
 What is the average cost, and useful life of these systems?
Are attendees willing to share illustrative system cost and useful life
information with EWA?
The Easy Questions
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 Can these responses be broken down by area? Yes.
 Should cost recovery include equipment acquired since the enactment of
the legislation? Absolutely yes!
 What additional information should the FCC consider?
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Lost investment in new system technologies and features, lost
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opportunity costs, negative economic impact in affected market area,
reduced spectrum efficiency, and increased risks to public safety directly
attributable to the FCC’s licensing freeze.
Relocated licensees must be afforded comparable spectrum – but where?
What protections are there to ensure (i) auction proceeds are sufficient to
relocate public safety and (ii) auction winners are obligated to pay
Industrial/Business relocation costs directly.
Broadband capabilities augment internal wireless communication systems;
they will not replace them in the foreseeable future, if ever.
The Easy Questions
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 Should the Commission continue the licensing suspension until
reallocation and relocation are implemented? No!
 Should the Commission consider modifying the suspension to allow
certain types of modifications? If freeze is not lifted entirely, then yes.
 If the FCC consolidates Industrial/Business licensees into a single segment
of T-Band, must those licensees convert their systems to narrowband as a
condition of the relocation? Yes.
 Should the Commission process applications that were pending prior to
the announcement the suspension and are currently held in abeyance? Yes!
The Not-So-Easy Questions
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 Should Industrial/Business be relocated to clear contiguous spectrum?
Not required by the legislation, but FCC has authority to reallocate
spectrum for new uses as it has done previously.
 Should the FCC consider consolidating Industrial/Business within a single
contiguous segment of T-Band?
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Assuming relocation costs are accommodated in some fashion,
should EWA support this recommendation?
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Should EWA seek additional spectrum and geography in exchange?
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Would additional spectrum and geography alone provide sufficient
incentive to relocate? What are other potential incentives, if any?
The Not-So-Easy Questions
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 What alternative bands are available for Industrial/Business licensees?
Are there any realistic alternative bands?
 Should the Commission consider other measures to restrict changes to T-
Band incumbent systems that would increase their relocation costs?
No, and if freeze maintained it should follow the 900 MHz “freeze” model
that permits incumbent licensees to modify, add or relocate sites and
frequencies.
The Not-So-Easy Questions
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 What are other mechanisms that would enable Industrial/Business
to recover some (!) or all of there relocation costs? Should EWA …
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State that this question is meaningless unless and until alternative
spectrum capacity can be identified for Industrial/Business ?
State that future auction winners must be obligated to fully finance
all relocation costs to comparable spectrum?
State that the only viable option for clearing this spectrum may be for
auction winners to negotiate separate financial arrangements, that
may or may not be successful, to remove Industrial/Business licensees under
rules applied in other band clearing situations?
State that if there is insufficient auction revenues generated to fully fund
public safety's’ relocation from T-Band, and/or it is determined that there is
inadequate alternative comparable spectrum to accommodate public safety’s
relocation requirements, relocation policy issues associated with
Industrial/Business licensees become moot.
Thank you!
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EWA Questions
 T-Band licensees should consider filing their own comments in response to
this Public Notice. The FCC needs to hear from users directly, not just from
EWA.
 Would any attendees welcome EWA’s assistance in preparing and
submitting comments in response to the Public Notice?
 Please contact [email protected] to receive a copy of
the FCC’s Public Notice (PS Docket No. 13-42 - DA 13-87).
Any Attendee Questions?
Critical Capitol Hill Representatives
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House
Fred Upton(R-MI)
Leonard Lance (R-NJ)
Edward Markey (D-MA)
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Michael Doyle (D-PA)
Jerry McNerney (D-CA)
Ralph Hall (R-TX)
Pete Olson (R-TX)
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ)
Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Tim Murphy (R-PA)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Gene Green (D-TX)
John Sarbanes (D-MD)
Senate
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Mark Warner (D-VA)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Contacting EWA
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